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UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 

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(      '..'•-     (      ■    a., 


HARPLR    \    BROTH  E  R  - 


HISTORY 


KING  CHARLES  THE  FIRST 


ENGLAND, 


BY  JACOB   ABBOTT. 


f ftf)  SEnjrabinjjs. 


NEW    YORK: 


HARPER   &   BROTHERS,    PUBLISHERS, 

82   CLIFF    STREET. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  forty-eight,  by 

Harper  &  Brothers, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Southern  District 
of  New  York. 


PREFACE. 


The  history  of  the  life  of  every  individual 
who  has,  for  any  reason,  attracted  extensively 
the  attention  of  mankind,  has  been  written  in 
a  great  variety  of  ways  by  a  multitude  of  au- 
thors, and  persons  sometimes  wonder  why  we 
should  have  so  many  different  accounts  of  the 
same  thing.  The  reason  is,  that  each  one  of 
these  accounts  is  intended  for  a  different  set  of 
readers,  who  read  with  ideas  and  purposes  wide- 
ly dissimilar  from  each  other.  Among  the 
twenty  millions  of  people  in  the  United  States, 
there  are  perhaps  two  millions,  between  the  ages 
of  fifteen  and  twenty-five,  who  wish  to  become 
acquainted,  in  general,  with  the  leading  events 
in  the  history  of  the  Old  World,  and  of  ancient 
times,  but  who,  coming  upon  the  stage  in  this 
land  and  at  this  period,  have  ideas  and  concep- 
tions so  widely  different  from  those  of  other  na- 
tions and  of  other  times,  that  a  mere  republica- 


vi  Preface. 

tion  of  existing  accounts  is  not  what  they  re- 
quire. The  story  must  be  told  expressly  for 
them.  The  things  that  are  to  be  explained, 
the  points  that  are  to  be  brought  out,  the  com- 
parative degree  of  prominence  to  be  given  to 
the  various  particulars,  will  all  be  different,  on 
account  of  the  difference  in  the  situation,  the 
ideas,  and  the  objects  of  these  new  readers, 
compared  with  those  of  the  various  other  classes 
of  readers  which  former  authors  have  had  in 
view.  It  is  for  this  reason,  and  with  this  view, 
that  the  present  series  of  historical  narratives  is 
presented  to  the  public.  The  author,  having 
had  some  opportunity  to  become  acquainted 
with  the  position,  the  ideas,  and  the  intellect- 
ual wants  of  those  whom  he  addresses,  presents 
the  result  of  his  labors  to  them,  with  the  hope 
that  it  may  be  found  successful  in  accomplish- 
ing its  design. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  Page 

I.    HIS    CHILDHOOD    AND    YOUTH 13 

II.    THE    EXPEDITION    INTO    SPAIN 34 

III.  ACCESSION    TO    THE    THRONE 58 

IV.  BUCKINGHAM 81 

V.    THE    KING    AND    HIS    PREROGATIVE 107 

VI.    ARCHBISHOP    LAUD 131 

VII.    THE    EARL    OF    STRAFFORD 155 

VIII.    DOWNFALL    OF    STRAFFORD    AND    LAUD 177 

IX.    CIVIL    WAR 203 

X.    THE    CAPTIVITY 234 

XI.    TRIAL    AND    DEATH 261 


ENGRAVINGS. 


Page 

portrait  of  hampden Frontispiece. 

illuminated  title 

tower  of  london „ 1 

charles  i.  and  armor  bearer 10 

queen  henrietta  maria 11 

windsor  castle 22 

the  escurial 55 

st.  Stephen's 76 

lambeth  palace 133 

westminster  hall 187 

strafford  and  laud 199 

the  king's  adherents  entering  york 221 

the  landing  of  the  queen 228 

NEWARK 236 

CARISBROOKE   CASTLE 254 

RUINS    OF    CARISBROOKE    CASTLE 265 


Chai.les  I.  and  Armob.  Bearek. 


QCEEN   H.ENBIETTA    MaeIA. 


KING  CHARLES  I. 

Chapter    I. 
His    Childhood   and    Youth. 

Born  in  Scotland.  The  circumstance  explained 

T/^ING  CHARLES  THE  FIRST  was  born 
-i-m.  in  Scotland.  It  may  perhaps  surprise 
the  reader  that  an  English  king  should  be  born 
in  Scotland.     The  explanation  is  this : 

They  who  have  read  the  history  of  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots,  will  remember  that  it  was  the 
great  end  and  aim  of  her  life  to  unite  the 
crowns  of  England  and  Scotland  in  her  own 
family.  Queen  Elizabeth  was  then  Queen 
of  England.  She  lived  and  died  unmarried. 
Queen  Mary  and  a  young  man  named  Lord 
Darnley  were  the  next  heirs.  It  was  uncer- 
tain which  of  the  two  had  the  strongest  claim. 
To  prevent  a  dispute,  by  uniting  these  claims, 
Mary  made  Darnley  her  husband.  They  had 
a  son,  who,  after  the  death  of  his  father  and 
mother,  was  acknowledged  to  be  the  heir  to 
the  English  throne,  whenever  Elizabeth's  life 


14  King    Charles    I.  [1600. 

Princess  Anne.  Royal  marriages. 

should  end.  In  the  mean  time  he  remained 
King  of  Scotland.  His  name  was  James.  He 
married  a  princess  of  Denmark  ;  and  his  child, 
who  afterward  was  King  Charles  the  First  of 
England,  was  born  before  he  left  his  native 
realm. 

King  Charles's  mother  was,  as  has  been  al- 
ready said,  a  princess  of  Denmark.  Her  name 
was  Anne.  The  circumstances  of  her  mar- 
riage to  King  James  were  quite  extraordinary, 
and  attracted  great  attention  at  the  time.  It 
is,  in  some  sense,  a  matter  of  principle  among 
kings  and  queens,  that  they  must  only  marry 
persons  of  royal  rank,  like  themselves ;  and  as 
they  have  very  little  opportunity  of  visiting  each 
other,  residing  as  they  do  in  such  distant  capi- 
tals, they  generally  choose  their  consorts  by  the 
reports  which  come  to  them  of  the  person  and 
character  of  the  different  candidates.  The 
choice,  too,  is  very  much  influenced  by  politi- 
cal considerations,  and  is  always  more  or  less 
embarrassed  by  the  interference  of  other  courts, 
whose  ministers  make  objections  to  this  or  that 
alliance,  on  account  of  its  supposed  interference 
with  some  of  their  own  political  schemes. 

As  it  is  very  inconvenient,  moreover,  for  a 
kin?  to  leave  bis  dominions,  the  marriage  cere- 


1600.]  His  Childhood    and    Youth.     15 

Getting  married  by  proxy.  James  thwarted. 

mony  is  usually  performed  at  the  court  where 
the  bride  resides,  without  the  presence  of  the 
bridegroom,  he  sending  an  embassador  to  act 
as  his  representative.  This  is  called  being 
married  by  proxy.  The  bride  then  comes  to 
her  royal  husband's  dominions,  accompanied  by 
a  great  escort.  He  meets  her  usually  on  the 
frontiers ;  and  there  she  sees  him  for  the  first 
time,  after  having  been  married  to  him  some 
weeks  by  proxy.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  she 
has  generally  seen  his  picture,  that  being  usu- 
ally sent  to  her  before  the  marriage  contract  is 
made.  This,  however,  is  not  a  matter  of  much 
consequence,  as  the  personal  predilections  of  a 
princess  have  generally  very  little  to  do  with 
the  question  of  her  marriage. 

Now  King  James  had  concluded  to  propose 
for  the  oldest  daughter  of  the  King  of  Denmark, 
and  he  entered  into  negotiations  for  this  pur- 
pose. This  plan,  however,  did  not  please  the 
government  of  England,  and  Elizabeth,  who 
was  then  the  English  queen,  managed  so  to 
embarrass  and  interfere  with  the  scheme,  that 
the  King  of  Denmark  gave  his  daughter  to 
another  claimant.  James  was  a  man  of  very 
mild  and  quiet  temperament,  easily  counter- 
acted and  thwarted  in  his  plans ;  but  this  dis- 


16  King    Charles    I.  [1600. 

Jaines  sues  for  Anne.  Their  marriage. 

appointment  aroused  his  energies,  and  he  sent 
a  splendid  embassy  into  Denmark  to  demand 
the  king's  second  daughter,  whose  name  was 
Anne.  He  prosecuted  this  suit  so  vigorously 
that  the  marriage  articles  were  soon  agreed  to 
and  signed.  Anne  embarked  and  set  sail  for 
Scotland.  The  king  remained  there,  waiting 
for  her  arrival  with  great  impatience.  At 
length,  instead  of  his  bride,  the  news  came  that 
the  fleet  in  which  Anne  had  sailed  had  been 
dispersed  and  driven  back  by  a  storm,  and  that 
Anne  herself  had  landed  on  the  coast  of  Norway. 
James  immediately  conceived  the  design  of 
going  himself  in  pursuit  of  her.  But  knowing 
very  well  that  all  his  ministers  and  the  officers 
of  his  government  would  make  endless  objec- 
tions to  his  going  out  of  the  country  on  such 
an  errand,  he  kept  his  plan  a  profound  secret 
from  them  all.  He  ordered  some  ships  to  be 
got  ready  privately,  and  provided  a  suitable 
train  of  attendants,  and  then  embarked  with- 
out letting  his  people  know  where  he  was  going. 
He  sailed  across  the  German  Ocean  to  the 
town  in  Norway  where  his  bride  had  landed. 
He  found  her  there,  and  they  were  married. 
Her  brother,  who  had  just  succeeded  to  the 
throne,  having  received  intelligence  of  this,  in- 


1600.]  His   Childhood    and    Youth.     17 

James  in  Copenhagen.  Charles's  feeble  infancy. 

vited  the  young  couple  to  come  and  spend  the 
winter  at  his  capital  of  Copenhagen ;  and  as 
the  season  was  far  advanced,  and  the  sea 
stormy,  King  James  concluded  to  accept  the 
invitation.  They  were  received  in  Copenhagen 
with  great  pomp  and  parade,  and  the  winter 
was  spent  in  festivities  and  rejoicings.  In  the 
spring  he  brought  his  bride  to  Scotland.  The 
whole  world  were  astonished  at  the  perform- 
ance of  such  an  exploit  by  a  king,  especially 
one  of  so  mild,  quiet,  and  grave  a  character  as 
that  which  James  had  the  credit  of  possessing. 
Young  Charles  was  very  weak  and  feeble  in 
his  infancy.  It  was  feared  that  he  would  not 
live  many  hours.  The  rite  of  baptism  was  im- 
mediately performed,  as  it  was,  in  those  days, 
considered  essential  to  the  salvation  of  a  child 
dying  in  infancy  that  it  should  be  baptized  be- 
fore it  died.  Notwithstanding  the  fears  that 
were  at  first  felt,  Charles  lingered  along  for 
some  days,  and  gradually  began  to  acquire  a 
little  strength.  His  feebleness  was  a  cause  of 
great  anxiety  and  concern  to  those  around  him  ; 
but  the  degree  of  interest  felt  in  the  little  suf- 
ferer's fate  was  very  much  less  than  it  would 
have  been  if  he  had  been  the  oldest  son.  Ho 
had  a  brother,  Prince  Henry,  who  was  older 
2 


18  King   Charles   I.  [1600. 

Death  of  Elizabeth.  Accession  of  James  to  the  English  crown. 

than  he,  and,  consequently,  heir  to  his  father's 
crowns.  It  was  not  probable,  therefore,  that 
Charles  would  ever  be  king;  and  the  import- 
ance of  every  thing  connected  with  his  birth 
and  his  welfare  was  very  much  diminished  on 
that  account. 

It  was  only  about  two  years  after  Charles's 
birth  that  Queen  Elizabeth  died,  and  King 
James  succeeded  to  the  English  throne.  A 
messenger  came  with  all  speed  to  Scotland  to 
announce  the  fact.  He  rode  night  and  day. 
He  arrived  at  the  king's  palace  in  the  night. 
He  gained  admission  to  the  king's  chamber, 
and,  kneeling  at  his  bedside,  proclaimed  him 
King  of  England.  James  immediately  pre- 
pared to  bid  his  Scotch  subjects  farewell,  and 
to  proceed  to  England  to  take  possession  of  his 
new  realm.  Queen  Anne  was  to  follow  him 
in  a  week  or  two,  and  the  other  children,  Henry 
and  Elizabeth  ;  but  Charles  was  too  feeble  to  go. 

In  those  early  days  there  was  a  prevailing 
belief  in  Scotland,  and,  in  fact,  the  opinion  still 
lingers  there,  that  certain  persons  among  the 
old  Highlanders  had  what  they  called  the  gift 
of  the  second  sight — that  is,  the  power  of  fore- 
seeing futurity  in  some  mysterious  and  incom- 
prehensible way.     An  incident  is  related  in  the 


1603.]  His    Childhood   and    Youth.     19 

Second  sight.  Prediction  fulfilled. 

old  histories  connected  with  Charles's  infancy, 
which  is  a  good  illustration  of  this.  While 
King  James  was  preparing  to  leave  Scotland, 
to  take  possession  of  the  English  throne,  an  old 
Highland  laird  came  to  bid  him  farewell.  He 
gave  the  king  many  parting  counsels  and  good 
wishes,  and  then,  overlooking  the  older  brother, 
Prince  Henry,  he  went  directly  to  Charles,  who 
was  then  about  two  years  old,  and  bowed  be- 
fore him,  and  kissed  his  hand  with  the  greatest 
appearance  of  regard  and  veneration.  King 
James  undertook  to  correct  his  supposed  mis- 
take, by  telling  him  that  that  was  his  second 
son,  and  that  the  other  boy  was  the  heir  to  the 
crown.  "  No,"  said  the  old  laird,  "  I  am  not 
mistaken.  I  know  to  whom  I  am  speaking. 
This  child,  now  in  his  nurse's  arms,  will  be 
greater  than  his  brother.  This  is  the  one  who 
is  to  convey  his  father's  name  and  titles  to  suc- 
ceeding generations."  This  prediction  was  ful- 
filled ;  for  the  robust  and  healthy  Henry  died, 
and  the  feeble  and  sickly-looking  Charles  lived 
and  grew,  and  succeeded,  in  due  time,  to  his 
father's  throne. 

Now  inasmuch  as,  at  the  time  when  this 
prediction  was  uttered,  there  seemed  to  be  little 
human  probability  of  its  fulfillment,  it  attracted 


20  King    Charles   I.  [1603. 

An  explanation.  Charles's  titles  of  nobility. 

attention ;  its  unexpected  and  startling  charac- 
ter made  every  one  notice  and  remember  it ; 
and  the  old  laird  was  at  once  an  object  of  inter- 
est and  wonder.  It  is  probable  that  this  desire 
to  excite  the  admiration  of  the  auditors,  mingled 
insensibly  with  a  sort  of  poetic  enthusiasm, 
which  a  rude  age  and  mountainous  scenery  al- 
ways inspires,  was  the  origin  of  a  great  many 
such  predictions  as  these  ;  and  then,  in  the  end, 
those  only  which  turned  out  to  be  true  were 
remembered,  while  the  rest  were  forgotten  ;  and 
this  was  the  way  that  the  reality  of  such  pro- 
phetic powers  came  to  be  generally  believed  in. 

Feeble  and  uncertain  of  life  as  the  infant 
Charles  appeared  to  be,  they  conferred  upon 
him,  as  is  customary  in  the  case  of  young  prin- 
ces, various  titles  of  nobility.  He  was  made  a 
duke,  a  marquis,  an  earl,  and  a  baron,  before 
he  had  strength  enough  to  lift  up  his  head  in 
his  nurse's  arms.  His  title  as  duke  was  Duke 
of  Albany  ;  and  as  this  was  the  highest  of  his 
nominal  honors,  he  was  generally  known  under 
that  designation  while  he  remained  in  Scotland. 

When  his  father  left  him,  in  order  to  go  to 
England  and  take  possession  of  his  new  throne, 
he  appointed  a  governess  to  take  charge  of  the 
health  and  education  of  the  young  duke.     This 


1603.]  His    Childhood    and    Youth.     23 

Charles's  governess.  Windsor  Castle. 

governess  was  Lady  Cary.  The  reason  why 
she  was  appointed  was,  not  because  of  her  pos- 
sessing any  peculiar  qualifications  for  such  a 
charge,  but  because  her  husband,  Sir  Robert 
Cary,  had  been  the  messenger  employed  by  the 
British  government  to  communicate  to  James 
the  death  of  Elizabeth,  and  to  announce  to  him 
his  accession  to  the  throne.  The  bearer  of 
good  news  to  a  monarch  must  always  be  re- 
warded, and  James  recompensed  Sir  Robert  for 
his  service  by  appointing  his  wife  to  the  post  of 
governess  of  his  infant  son.  The  office  un- 
doubtedly had  its  honors  and  emoluments,  with 
very  little  of  responsibility  or  care. 

One  of  the  chief  residences  of  the  English 
monarchs  is  Windsor  Castle.  It  is  situated 
above  London,  on  the  Thames,  on  the  southern 
shore.  It  is  on  an  eminence  overlooking  the 
river  and  the  delightful  valley  through  which 
the  river  here  meanders.  In  the  rear  is  a  very 
extensive  park  or  forest,  which  is  penetrated  in 
every  direction  by  rides  and  walks  almost  innu- 
merable. It  has  been  for  a  long  time  the  chief 
country  residence  of  the  British  kings.  It  is 
very  spacious,  containing  within  its  walls  many 
courts  and  quadrangles,  with  various  buildings 
surrounding  them,  some  ancient  and  some  mod- 


24  King   Charles  I.  [1610. 

Journey  to  London.  A  mother's  love.  Rejoicings. 

ern.  Here  King  James  held  his  court  after  his 
arrival  in  England,  and  in  about  a  year  he  sent 
for  the  little  Charles  to  join  him. 

The  child  traveled  very  slowly,  and  by  very 
easy  stages,  his  nurses  and  attendants  watch- 
ing over  him  with  great  solicitude  all  the  way. 
The  journey  was  made  in  the  month  of  October. 
His  mother  watched  his  arrival  with  great  in- 
terest. Being  so  feeble  and  helpless,  he  was,  of 
course,  her  favorite  child.  By  an  instinct  which 
very  strongly  evinces  the  wisdom  and  goodness 
which  implanted  it,  a  mother  always  bestows 
a  double  portion  of  her  love  upon  the  frail,  the 
helpless,  and  the  suffering.  Instead  of  being 
wearied  out  with  protracted  and  incessant  calls 
for  watchfulness  and  care,  she  feels  only  a  deep- 
er sympathy  and  love,  in  proportion  to  the  in- 
firmities which  call  for  them,  and  thus  finds 
her  highest  happiness  in  what  we  might  expect 
would  be  a  weariness  and  a  toil. 

Little  Charles  was  four  years  old  when  he 
reached  Windsor  Castle.  They  celebrated  his 
arrival  with  great  rejoicings,  and  a  day  or  two 
afterward  they  invested  him  with  the  title  of 
Duke  of  York,  a  still  higher  distinction  than  he 
had  before  attained.  Soon  after  this,  when  he 
was  perhaps  five  or  six  years  of  age,  a  gentle- 


1610.]  His    Childhood    and   Youth.     25 

Charles's  continued  feebleness.  His  progress  in  learning. 

man  was  appointed  to  take  the  charge  of  his 
education.  His  health  gradually  improved, 
though  he  still  continued  helpless  and  feeble. 
It  was  a  long  time  before  he  could  walk,  on  ac- 
count of  some  malformation  of  his  limbs.  He 
learned  to  talk,  too,  very  late  and  very  slowly. 
Besides  the  general  feebleness  of  his  constitu- 
tion, which  kept  him  back  in  all  these  things, 
there  was  an  impediment  in  his  speech,  which 
affected  him  very  much  in  childhood,  and  which, 
in  fact,  never  entirely  disappeared. 

As  soon,  however,  as  he  commenced  his  stud- 
ies under  his  new  tutor,  he  made  much  great- 
er progress  than  had  been  expected.  It  was 
soon  observed  that  the  feebleness  which  had 
attached  to  him  pertained  more  to  the  body 
than  to  the  mind.  He  advanced  with  consid- 
erable rapidity  in  his  learning.  His  progress 
was,  in  fact,  in  some  degree,  promoted  by  his 
bodily  infirmities,  which  kept  him  from  playing 
with  the  other  boys  of  the  court,  and  led  him 
to  like  to  be  still,  and  to  retire  from  scenes  of 
sport  and  pleasure  which  he  could  not  share. 

The  same  cause  operated  to  make  him  not 
agreeable  as  a  companion,  and  he  was  not  a 
favorite  among  those  around  him.  They  call- 
ed him  Baby  Charley.     His  temper  seemed  to 


26  King    Charles    I.  [1616. 

Charles  improves  in  health.  Death  of  his  brother. 

be  in  some  sense  soured  by  the  feeling  of  his  in- 
feriority, and  by  the  jealousy  he  would  natural- 
ly experience  in  finding  himself,  the  son  of  a 
king,  so  outstripped  in  athletic  sports  by  those 
whom  he  regarded  as  his  inferiors  in  rank  and 
station. 

The  lapse  of  a  few  years,  however,  after  this 
time,  made  a  total  change  in  Charles's  position 
and  prospects.  His  health  improved,  and  his 
constitution  began  to  be  confirmed  and  estab- 
lished. When  he  was  about  twelve  years  of 
age,  too,  his  brother  Henry  died.  This  circum- 
stance made  an  entire  change  in  all  his  pros- 
pects of  life.  The  eyes  of  the  whole  kingdom, 
and,  in  fact,  of  all  Europe,  were  now  upon  him 
as  the  future  sovereign  of  England.  His  sister 
Elizabeth,  who  was  a  few  years  older  than  him- 
self, was,  about  this  time,  married  to  a  Ger- 
man prince,  with  great  pomp  and  ceremony, 
young  Charles  acting  the  part  of  brideman. 
In  consequence  of  his  new  position  as  heir-ap- 
parent to  the  throne,  he  was  advanced  to  new 
honors,  and  had  new  titles  conferred  upon  him, 
until  at  last,  when  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age, 
he  was  made  Prince  of  Wales,  and  certain  rev- 
enues were  appropriated  to  support  a  court  for 
him,  that  he  might  be  surrounded  with  external 


1618.]  His    Childhood    and  Youth.      27 

Charles's  love  of  athletic  sports.  Buckingham. 

circumstances  and  insignia  of  rank  and  power, 
corresponding  with  his  prospective  greatness. 

In  the  mean  time  his  health  and  strength 
rapidly  improved,  and  with  the  improvement 
came  a  taste  for  manly  and  athletic  sports,  and 
the  attainment  of  excellence  in  them.  He  be- 
came very  famous  for  his  skill  in  all  the  exploits 
and  performances  of  the  young  men  of  those 
days,  such  as  shooting,  riding,  vaulting,  and 
tilting  at  tournaments.  From  being  a  weak, 
sickly,  and  almost  helpless  child,  he  became,  at 
twenty,  an  active,  athletic  young  man,  full  of 
life  and  spirit,  and  ready  for  any  romantic  en- 
terprise. In  fact,  when  he  was  twenty-three 
years  old,  he  embarked  in  a  romantic  enter- 
prise which  attracted  the  attention  of  all  the 
world.  This  enterprise  will  presently  be  de- 
scribed. 

There  was  at  this  time,  in  the  court  of  King 
James,  a  man  who  became  very  famous  after- 
ward as  a  favorite  and  follower  of  Charles.  He 
is  known  in  history  under  the  name  of  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham.  His  name  was  origin- 
ally George  Villiers.  He  was  a  very  hand- 
some young  man,  and  he  seems  to  have  attract- 
ed King  James's  attention  at  first  on  this  ac- 
count.    James  found  him  a  convenient  attend- 


28  King    Charles    I.  [1618. 

Buckingham's  style  of  living.  Royalty. 


ant,  and  made  him,  at  last,  his  principal  favor- 
ite. He  raised  him  to  a  high  rank,  and  con- 
ferred upon  him,  among  other  titles,  that  of 
Duke  of  Buckingham.  The  other  persons 
about  the  court  were  very  envious  and  jealous 
of  his  influence  and  power  ;  but  they  were 
obliged  to  submit  to  it.  He  lived  in  great 
state  and  splendor,  and  for  many  years  was 
looked  up  to  by  the  whole  kingdom  as  one  of 
the  greatest  personages  in  the  realm.  We 
shall  learn  hereafter  how  he  came  to  his  end. 

If  the  reader  imagines,  from  the  accounts 
which  have  been  given  thus  far  in  this  chapter 
of  the  pomp  and  parade  of  royalty,  of  the  cas- 
tles and  the  ceremonies,  the  titles  of  nobility, 
and  the  various  insignia  of  rank  and  power, 
which  we  have  alluded  to  so  often,  that  the 
mode  of  life  which  royalty  led  in  those  days 
was  lofty,  dignified,  and  truly  great,  he  will  be 
very  greatly  deceived.  All  these  things  were 
merely  for  show — things  put  on  for  public  dis- 
play, to  gratify  pride  and  impress  the  people, 
who  never  looked  behind  the  scenes,  with  high 
ideas  of  the  grandeur  of  those  who,  as  they 
were  taught,  ruled  over  them  by  a  divine  right. 
It  would  be  hard  to  find,  in  any  class  of  society 
except  those  reputed  infamous,  more  low,  gross, 


1620.]  His   Childhood   and    Youth.     29 

True  character  of  royalty.  The  king  and  Buckingham. 

and  vulgar  modes  of  life  than  have  been  ex- 
hibited generally  in  the  royal  palaces  of  Europe 
for  the  last  five  hundred  years.  King  James 
the  First  has,  among  English  sovereigns,  rath- 
er a  high  character  for  sobriety  and  gravity  of 
deportment,  and  purity  of  morals ;  but  the 
glimpses  we  get  of  the  real,  every-day  routine 
of  his  domestic  life,  are  such  as  to  show  that 
the  pomp  and  parade  of  royalty  is  mere  glitter- 
ing tinsel,  after  all. 

The  historians  of  the  day  tell  such  stories  as 
these.  The  king  was  at  one  time  very  de- 
jected and  melancholy,  when  Buckingham  con- 
trived this  plan  to  amuse  him.  In  the  first 
place,  however,  we  ought  to  say,  in  order  to  il- 
lustrate the  terms  on  which  he  and  Bucking- 
ham lived  together,  that  the  king  always  called 
Buckingham  Steeny,  which  was  a  contraction 
of  Stephen.  St.  Stephen  was  always  repre- 
sented, in  the  Catholic  pictures  of  the  saints,  as 
a  very  handsome  man,  and  Buckingham  being 
handsome  too,  James  called  him  Steeny  by  way 
of  compliment.  Steeny  called  the  king  his  dad, 
and  used  to  sign  himself,  in  his  letters,  "  your 
slave  and  dog  Steeny."  There  are  extant  some 
letters  which  passed  between  the  king  and  his 
favorite,  written,  on  the  part  of  the  king,  in  a 


30  King   Charles    I.  [1620. 

Indecent  correspondence.  Buckingham's  pig. 

style  of  grossness  and  indecency  such  that  the 
chroniclers  of  those  days  said  that  they  were 
not  fit  to  be  printed.  They  would  not  "blot 
their  pages"  with  them,  they  said.  King 
Charles's  letters  were  more  properly  expressed. 

To  return,  then,  to  our  story.  The  king  was 
very  much  dejected  and  melancholy.  Steeny, 
in  order  to  divert  him,  had  a  pig  dressed  up  in 
the  clothes  of  an  infant  child.  Buckingham's 
mother,  who  was  a  countess,  personated  the 
nurse,  dressed  also  carefully  for  the  occasion. 
Another  person  put  on  a  bishop's  robes,  satin 
gown,  lawn  sleeves,  and  the  other  pontifical 
ornaments.  They  also  provided  a  baptismal 
font,  a  prayer-book,  and  other  things  necessary 
for  a  religious  ceremony,  and  then  invited  the 
king  to  come  in  to  attend  a  baptism.  The 
king  came,  and  the  pretended  bishop  began  to 
read  the  service,  the  assistants  looking  gravely 
on,  until  the  squealing  of  the  pig  brought  all 
gravity  to  an  end.  The  king  was  not  pleased  ; 
but  the  historian  thinks  the  reason  was,  not 
any  objection  which  he  had  to  such  a  profana- 
tion, but  to  his  not  happening  to  be  in  a  mood 
for  it  at  that  time. 

There  was  a  negotiation  going  on  for  a  long 
time  for  a  marriage  between  one  of  the  king's 


1620.]  His   Childhood   and   Youth.     31 

James's  petulance.  The  story  of  Gib. 

sons,  first  Henry,  and  afterward  Charles,  and  a 
princess  of  Spain.  At  one  time  the  king  lost 
some  of  the  papers,  and  was  storming  about  the 
palace  in  a  great  rage  because  he  could  not 
find  them.  At  last  he  chanced  to  meet  a  cer- 
tain Scotchman,  a  servant  of  his,  named  Gib, 
and,  like  a  vexed  and  impatient  child,  who  lays 
the  charge  of  a  lost  plaything  upon  any  body 
who  happens  to  be  at  hand  to  receive  it,  he  put 
the  responsibility  of  the  loss  of  the  papers  upon 
Gib.  "I  remember,"  said  he,  "I  gave  them 
to  you  to  take  care  of.  What  have  you  done 
with  them?"  The  faithful  servant  fell  upon 
his  knees,  and  protested  that  he  had  not  re- 
ceived them.  The  king  was  only  made  the 
more  angry  by  this  contradiction,  and  kicked 
the  Scotchman  as  he  kneeled  upon  the  floor. 
The  man  rose  and  left  the  apartment,  saying, 
"I  have  always  been  faithful  to  your  majesty, 
and  have  not  deserved  such  treatment  as  this. 
I  can  not  remain  in  your  service  under  such  a 
degradation.  I  shall  never  see  you  again." 
He  left  the  palace,  and  went  away. 

A  short  time  after  this,  the  person  to  whose 
custody  the  king  had  really  committed  the  pa- 
pers came  in,  and,  on  learning  that  they  were 
wanted,  produced  them.    The  king  was  asham- 


32  King    Charles   I.  [1620. 

The  king's  frankness.  Glitter  of  royalty. 

ed  of  his  conduct.  He  sent  for  his  Scotch  serv- 
ant again,  and  was  not  easy  until  he  was  found 
and  brought  into  his  presence.  He  then  kneel- 
ed before  him  and  asked  his  forgiveness,  and 
said  he  should  not  rise  till  he  had  forgiven  him. 
Gib  was  disposed  to  evade  the  request,  and 
urged  the  king  to  rise ;  but  James  would  not 
do  so  until  he  had  said  he  forgave  him,  in  so 
many  words.  The  whole  case  shows  how  little 
of  dignity  and  noble  bearing  there  really  was 
in  the  manners  and  conduct  of  the  king  in  his 
daily  life,  though  we  are  almost  ready  to  over- 
look the  ridiculous  childishness  and  folly  of  his 
fault,  on  account  of  the  truly  noble  frankness 
and  honesty  with  which  he  acknowledged  it. 

Thus,  though  every  thing  in  which  royalty 
appeared  before  the  public  was  conducted  with 
great  pomp  and  parade,  this  external  magnifi- 
cence was  then,  and  always  has  been,  an  out- 
side show,  without  any  thing  corresponding  to 
it  within.  The  great  mass  of  the  people  of 
England  saw  only  the  outside.  They  gazed 
with  admiration  at  the  spectacle  of  magnifi- 
cence and  splendor  which  royalty  always  pre- 
sented to  their  eyes,  whenever  they  beheld  it 
from  the  distant  and  humble  points  of  view 
which  their  position  afforded  them.      Prince 


1622.]  His    Childhood  and  Youth.      33 

The  appearance.  The  reality. 

Charles,  on  the  other  hand,  was  behind  the  cur- 
tain. His  childhood  and  youth  were  exposed 
fully  to  all  the  real  influences  of  these  scenes. 
The  people  of  England  submitted  to  be  govern- 
ed by  such  men,  not  because  they  thought  them 
qualified  to  govern,  or  that  the  circumstances 
under  which  their  characters  were  formed  were 
such  as  were  calculated  to  form,  in  a  proper  man- 
ner, the  minds  of  the  rulers  of  a  Christian  people. 
They  did  not  know  what  those  circumstances 
were.  In  their  conceptions  they  had  grand  ideas 
of  royal  character  and  life,  and  imagined  the 
splendid  palaces  which  some  saw,  but  more  only 
heard  of,  at  Westminster,  were  filled  with  true 
greatness  and  glory.  They  were  really  filled 
with  vulgarity,  vice,  and  shame.  James  was  to 
them  King  James  the  First,  monarch  of  Great 
Britain,  France,  and  Ireland,  and  Charles  was 
Charles,  Prince  of  Wales,  Duke  of  York,  and 
heir-apparent  to  the  throne.  Whereas,  within 
the  palace,  to  all  who  saw  them  and  knew  them 
there,  and  really,  so  far  as  their  true  moral  po- 
sition was  concerned,  the  father  was  "  Old 
Dad,"  and  the  son,  what  his  father  always 
called  him  till  he  was  twenty-four  years  old, 
"  Baby  Charley." 
3 


34  King    Charles    I.  [1623. 

The  Palatinate.  Wars  between  the  Protestants  and  Catholics. 


Chapter    II. 
The    Expedition    into    Spain. 

IN  order  that  the  reader  may  understand 
fully  the  nature  of  the  romantic  enterprise 
in  which,  as  we  have  already  said,  Prince 
Charles  embarked  when  he  was  a  little  over 
twenty  years  of  age,  we  must  premise  that 
Frederic,  the  German  prince  who  married 
Charles's  sister  Elizabeth  some  years  before, 
was  the  ruler  of  a  country  in  Germany  called 
the  Palatinate.  It  was  on  the  banks  of  the 
Rhine.  Frederic's  title,  as  ruler  of  this  coun- 
try, was  Elector  Palatine.  There  are  a  great 
many  independent  states  in  Germany,  whose 
sovereigns  have  various  titles,  and  are  possessed 
of  various  prerogatives  and  powers. 

Now  it  happened  that,  at  this  time,  very 
fierce  civil  wars  were  raging  between  the  Cath- 
olics and  the  Protestants  in  Germany.  Fred- 
eric got  drawn  into  these  wars  on  the  Protest- 
ant side.  His  motive  was  not  any  desire  to 
promote  the  progress  of  what  he  considered  the 
true  faith,  but  only  a  wish  to  extend  his  own 


1623.]  The   Expedition   into   Spain.   35 

Frederic  dispossessed  of  his  dominions.  Flees  to  Holland. 

dominions,  and  add  to  his  own  power  ;  for  he 
had  been  promised  a  kingdom,  in  addition  to 
his  Palatinate,  if  he  would  assist  the  people  of 
the  kingdom  to  gain  the  victory  over  their 
Catholic  foes.  He  embarked  in  this  enterprise 
without  consulting  with  James,  his  father-in- 
law,  knowing  that  he  would  probably  disapprove 
of  such  dangerous  ambition.  James  was,  in 
fact,  very  sorry  afterward  to  hear  of  Frederic's 
having  engaged  in  such  a  contest. 

The  result  was  quite  as  disastrous  as  James 
feared.  Frederic  not  only  failed  of  getting  his 
new  kingdom,  but  he  provoked  the  rage  of  the 
Catholic  powers  against  whom  he  had  under- 
taken to  contend,  and  they  poured  a  great  army 
into  his  own  original  territory,  and  made  an 
easy  conquest  of  it.  Frederic  fled  to  Holland, 
and  remained  there  a  fugitive  and  an  exile,  hop- 
ing to  obtain  help  in  some  way  from  James,  in 
his  efforts  to  recover  his  lost  dominions. 

The  people  of  England  felt  a  great  interest 
in  Frederic's  unhappy  fate,  and  were  very  de- 
sirous that  James  should  raise  an  army  and 
give  him  some  efficient  assistance.  One  reason 
for  this  was  that  they  were  Protestants,  and 
they  were  always  ready  to  embark,  on  the 
Protestant  side,  in  the   Continental   quarrels. 


36  King   Charles   I.  [1623. 

Elizabeth.  James's  plan.  Donna  Maria. 

Another  reason  was  their  interest  in  Elizabeth, 
the  wife  of  Frederic,  who  had  so  recently  left 
England  a  blooming  bride,  and  whom  they 
still  considered  as  in  some  sense  pertaining  to 
the  royal  family  of  England,  and  as  having  a 
right  to  look  to  all  her  father's  subjects  for  pro- 
tection. 

But  King  James  himself  had  no  inclination 
to  go  to  war  in  such  a  quarrel.  He  was  inac- 
tive in  mind,  and  childish,  and  he  had  little 
taste  for  warlike  enterprises.  He  undertook, 
however,  to  accomplish  the  object  in  another 
way.  The  King  of  Spain,  being  one  of  the 
most  powerful  of  the  Catholic  sovereigns,  had 
great  influence  in  all  their  councils.  He  had 
also  a  beautiful  daughter,  Donna  Maria,  called, 
as  Spanish  princesses  are  styled,  the  Infanta. 
Now  James  conceived  the  design  of  proposing 
that  his  son  Charles  should  marry  Donna 
Maria,  and  that,  in  the  treaty  of  marriage, 
there  should  be  a  stipulation  providing  that  the 
Palatinate  should  be  restored  to  Frederic. 

These  negotiations  were  commenced,  and 
they  went  on  two  or  three  years  without  mak- 
ing any  sensible  progress.  Donna  Maria  was 
a  Catholic,  and  Charles  a  Protestant.  Now  a 
Catholic  could  not  marry  a  Protestant  without 


1623.]  The  Expedition  into  Spain.   37 

Negotiations  with  Spain.  Obstacles  and  delays. 

a  special  dispensation  from  the  pope.  To  get 
this  dispensation  required  new  negotiations  and 
delays.  In  the  midst  of  it  all,  the  King  of  Spain, 
Donna  Maria's  father,  died,  and  his  son,  her 
brother,  named  Philip,  succeeded  him.  Then 
the  negotiations  had  all  to  be  commenced  anew. 
It  was  supposed  that  the  King  of  Spain  did  not 
wish  to  have  the  affair  concluded,  but  liked  to 
have  it  in  discussion,  as  it  tended  to  keep  the 
King  of  England  more  or  less  under  his  con- 
trol. So  they  kept  sending  embassadors  back 
and  forth,  with  drafts  of  treaties,  articles,  condi- 
tions, and  stipulations  without  number.  There 
were  endless  discussions  about  securing  to  Don- 
na Maria  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  Catholic  re- 
ligion in  England,  and  express  agreements 
were  proposed  and  debated  in  respect  to  her 
having  a  chapel,  and  priests,  and  the  right  to 
celebrate  mass,  and  to  enjoy,  in  fact,  all  the 
other  privileges  which  she  had  been  accustomed 
to  exercise  in  her  own  native  land.  James  did 
not  object.  He  agreed  to  every  thing ;  but  still, 
some  how  or  other,  the  arrangement  could  not 
,be  closed.  There  was  always  some  pretext  for 
delay. 

At   last  Buckingham    proposed  to   Charles 
that  they  two  should  set  off  for  Spain  in  per- 


38  King    Charles    I. 

Buckingham's  proposal.  Nature  of  the  adventure. 

son,  and  see  if  they  could  not  settle  the  affair. 
Buckingham's  motive  was  partly  a  sort  of  reck- 
less daring,  which  made  him  love  any  sort  of 
adventure,  and  partly  a  desire  to  circumvent 
and  thwart  a  rival  of  his,  the  Earl  of  Bristol, 
who  had  charge  of  the  negotiations.  It  may 
seem  to  the  reader  that  a  simple  journey  from 
London  to  Madrid,  of  a  young  man,  for  the 
purpose  of  visiting  a  lady  whom  he  was  wish- 
ing to  espouse,  was  no  such  extraordinary  un- 
dertaking as  to  attract  the  attention  of  a  spirit- 
ed young  man  to  it  from  love  of  adventure. 
The  truth  is,  however,  that,  with  the  ideas  that 
then  prevailed  in  respect  to  royal  etiquette, 
there  was  something  very  unusual  in  this  plan. 
The  prince  and  Buckingham  knew  very  well 
that  the  consent  of  the  statesmen  and  high  offi- 
cers of  the  realm  could  never  be  obtained,  and 
that  their  only  alternative  was,  accordingly,  to 
go  off  secretly  and  in  disguise. 

It  seemed,  however,  to  be  rather  necessary 
to  get  the  king's  consent.  But  Buckingham 
did  not  anticipate  much  difficulty  in  this,  as  he 
was  accustomed  to  manage  James  almost  like 
a  child.  He  had  not,  however,  been  on  very 
good  terms  with  Charles,  having  been  accus- 
tomed to  treat  him  in  the  haughty  and  imperi- 


1623.]  The   Expedition   into   Spain.  39 

Buckingham's  dissimulation.  Charles  persuaded. 

ous  manner  which  James  would  usually  yield 
to,  but  which  Charles  was  more  inclined  to  re- 
sist and  resent.  When  Buckingham,  at  length, 
conceived  of  this  scheme  of  going  into  Spain, 
he  changed  his  deportment  toward  Charles, 
and  endeavored,  by  artful  dissimulation,  to 
gain  his  kind  regard.  He  soon  succeeded,  and 
then  he  proposed  his  plan. 

He  represented  to  Charles  that  the  sole  cause 
of  the  delays  in  settling  the  question  of  his  mar- 
riage was  because  it  was  left  so  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  embassadors,  negotiators,  and  states- 
men, who  involved  every  thing  in  endless  maz- 
es. "  Take  the  affair  into  your  own  hands," 
said  he,  "  like  a  man.  Set  off  with  me,  and  go 
at  once  into  Spain.  Astonish  them  with  your 
sudden  and  unexpected  presence.  The  Infan- 
ta will  be  delighted  at  such  a  proof  of  your  ar- 
dor, courage,  and  devotion,  and  will  do  all  in 
her  power  to  co-operate  with  you  in  bringing 
the  affair  at  once  to  a  close.  Besides,  the 
whole  world  will  admire  the  originality  and 
boldness  of  the  achievement." 

Charles  was  easily  persuaded.  The  next 
thing  was  to  get  the  king's  consent.  Charles 
and  Buckingham  went  to  his  palace  one  day, 
and,  watching  their  opportunity  when  he  was 


40  King    Charles   I.  [1623. 

James's  perplexity.  He  reluctantly  yields. 

pretty  merry  with  wine,  Charles  told  him  he 
had  a  favor  to  ask,  and  wanted  his  father  to 
promise  to  grant  it  before  he  knew  what  it  was. 
James,  after  some  hesitation,  half  in  jest  and 
half  in  earnest,  agreed  to  it.  They  made  him 
promise  that  he  would  not  tell  any  one  what  it 
was,  and  then  explained  their  plan.  The  king 
was  thunderstruck  ;  his  amazement  sobered  him 
at  once.  He  retracted  his  promise.  He  never 
could  consent  to  any  such  scheme. 

Buckingham  here  interposed  with  his  aid. 
He  told  the  king  it  was  perfectly  safe  for  the 
prince  to  go,  and  that  this  measure  was  the 
only  plan  which  could  bring  the  marriage 
treaty  to  a  close.  Besides,  he  said,  if  he  and 
the  prince  were  there,  they  could  act  far  more 
-effectually  than  any  embassadors  in  securing 
the  restoration  of  the  Palatinate  to  Frederic. 
James  could  not  withstand  these  entreaties  and 
arguments,  and  he  finally  gave  a  reluctant  con- 
sent to  the  plan. 

He  repented,  however,  as  soon  as  the  con- 
sent was  given,  and  when  Charles  and  Buck- 
ingham came  next  to  see  him,  he  said  it  must 
be  given  up.  One  great  source  of  his  anxiety 
was  a  fear  that  his  son  might  be  taken  and  kept 
a  prisoner,  either  in  France  or  Spain,  and  de- 


1623.]  The   Expedition   into   Spain.   41 

James's  fears.  Royal  captives. 

tained  a  long  time  in  captivity.  Such  a  cap- 
tive was  always,  in  those  days,  a  very  tempt- 
ing prize  to  a  rival  power.  Personages  of  very 
high  rank  may  be  detained  as  captives,  while 
all  the  time  those  who  detain  them  may  pre- 
tend not  to  confine  them  at  all,  the  guards  and 
sentinels  being  only  marks  of  regal  state,  and 
indications  of  the  desire  of  the  power  into  whose 
hands  they  have  fallen  to  treat  them  in  a  man- 
ner comporting  with  their  rank.  Then  there 
were  always,  in  those  days,  questions  and  dis- 
putes pending  between  the  rival  courts  of  En- 
gland, France,  and  Spain,  out  of  which  it  was 
easy  to  get  a  pretext  for  detaining  any  strolling 
prince  who  might  cross  the  frontier,  as  security 
for  the  fulfillment  of  some  stipulation,  or  for  do- 
ing some  act  of  justice  claimed.  James,  know- 
ing well  how  much  faith  and  honor  were  to  be 
expected  of  kings  and  courts,  was  afraid  to 
trust  his  son  in  French  or  Spanish  dominions. 
He  said  he  certainly  could  not  consent  to  his 
going,  without  first  sending  to  France,  at  least, 
for  a  safe-conduct — that  is,  a  paper  from  the 
government,  pledging  the  honor  of  the  king 
not  to  molest  or  interrupt  him  in  his  journey 
through  his  dominions. 

Buckingham,  instead  of  attempting  to  reas- 


42  King   Charles   I.  [1623. 

Buckingham's  violence.  Angry  disputes. 

sure  the  king  by  fresh  arguments  and  persua- 
sions, broke  out  into  a  passion,  accused  him  of 
violating  his  promise  not  to  reveal  their  plan  to 
any  one,  as  he  knew,  he  said,  that  this  new  op- 
position had  been  put  into  his  head  by  some  of 
his  counselors  <x>  whom  he  had  made  known 
the  design.  The  king  denied  this,  and  was 
terrified,  agitated,  and  distressed  by  Bucking- 
ham's violence.  He  wept  like  a  child.  His 
opposition  at  length  gave  way  a  second  time, 
and  he  said  they  might  go.  They  named  two 
attendants  whom  they  wanted  to  go  with  them. 
One  was  an  officer  of  the  king's  household, 
named  Collington,  who  was  then  in  the  ante- 
room. They  asked  the  king  to  call  him  in  to 
see  if  he  would  go.  When  Collington  came  in, 
the  king  accosted  him  with,  "Here's  Steeny 
and  Baby  Charley  that  want  to  go  to  Spain 
and  fetch  the  Infanta.  What  think  you  of 
it  ?"  Collington  did  not  think  well  of  it  at  all. 
There  followed  a  new  relapse  on  the  part  of 
the  king  from  his  consent,  a  new  storm  of  an- 
ger from  Buckingham,  more  sullen  obstinacy 
on  the  part  of  Charles,  with  profane  crimina- 
tions and  recriminations  one  against  another. 
The  whole  scene  was  what,  if  it  had  occurred 
any  where  else  than  in  a  palace,  would  have 
been  called  a  brawl. 


1623.]  The   Expedition  into   Spain.   43 

James's  distress.  Charles  and  Buckingham  depart 

It  ended,  as  brawls  usually  do,  in  the  tri- 
umph of  the  most  unreasonable  and  violent. 
James  threw  himself  upon  a  bed  which  was  in 
the  room,  weeping  bitterly,  and  saying  that 
they  would  go,  and  he  should  lose  his  Baby 
Charley.  Considering  that  Charles  was  now 
the  monarch's  only  child  remaining  at  home, 
and  that,  as  heir  to  the  crown,  his  life  was  of 
great  consequence  to  the  realm,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  his  father  was  distressed  at  the 
idea  of  his  exposing  himself  to  danger  on  such 
an  expedition  ;  but  one  not  accustomed  to  what 
is  behind  the  scenes  in  royal  life  would  expect 
a  little  more  dignity  and  propriety  in  the  mode 
of  expressing  paternal  solicitude  from  a  king. 

Charles  and  Buckingham  set  off  secretly 
from  London  ;  their  two  attendants  were  to 
join  them  in  different  places — the  last  at  Do- 
ver, where  they  were  to  embark.  They  laid 
aside  all  marks  of  distinction  in  dress,  such  as 
persons  of  high  rank  used  to  wear  in  those 
days,  and  took  the  garb  of  the  common  people. 
They  put  on  wigs,  also,  the  hair  being  very 
long,  so  as  to  shade  the  face  and  alter  the  ex- 
pression of  their  countenances.  These  extern- 
al disguises,  however,  were  all  that  they  could 
command.     They  could  not  assume  the  modest 


44  King    Charles   I.  [1623. 

Charles  and  Buckingham's  boisterous  conduct.  Arrested  at  Dover 

and  quiet  air  and  manner  of  persons  in  the  or- 
dinary walks  of  life,  but  made  such  displays, 
and  were  so  liberal  in  the  use  of  their  money, 
and  carried  such  an  air  and  manner  in  all  that 
they  did  and  said,  that  all  who  had  any  inter- 
course with  them  perceived  that  they  were  in 
disguise.  They  were  supposed  to  be  wild 
blades,  out  on  some  frolic  or  other,  but  still 
they  were  allowed  to  pass  along  without  any 
molestation. 

They  were,  however,  stopped  at  Dover, 
where  in  some  way  they  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  mayor  of  the  town.  Dover  is  on 
the  Channel,  opposite  to  Calais,  at  the  narrow- 
est point.  It  was,  of  course,  especially  in  those 
days,  the  point  where  the  principal  intercourse 
between  the  two  nations  centered.  The  mag- 
istrates of  the  two  towns  were  obliged,  conse- 
quently, to  be  on  the  alert,  to  prevent  the  es- 
cape of  fugitives  and  criminals,  as  well  as  to 
guard  against  the  efforts  of  smugglers,  or  the 
entrance  of  spies  or  other  secret  enemies.  The 
Mayor  of  Dover  arrested  our  heroes.  They 
told  him  that  their  names  were  Tom  Smith 
and  Jack  Smith  ;  these,  in  fact,  were  the  names 
with  which  they  had  traveled  through  England 
thus  far.     They  said  that  they  were  traveling 


1623.]  The  Expedition  into  Spain.  45 

.Arrival  at  Paris.  Princess  Henrietta. 

for  amusement.  The  mayor  did  not  believe 
them.  He  thought  they  were  going  across  to 
the  French  coast  to  fight  a  duel.  This  was 
often  done  in  those  days.  They  then  told  him 
that  they  were  indeed  persons  of  rank  in  dis- 
guise, and  that  they  were  going  to  inspect  the 
English  fleet.  He  finally  allowed  them  to  em- 
bark. 

On  landing  at  Calais,  they  traveled  post  to 
Paris,  strictly  preserving  their  incognito,  but 
assuming  such  an  air  and  bearing  as  to  create 
the  impression  that  they  were  not  what  they 
pretended.  When  they  reached  Paris,  Buck- 
ingham could  not  resist  the  temptation  of  show- 
ing Charles  a  little  of  life,  and  he  contrived  to 
get  admitted  to  a  party  at  court,  where  Charles 
saw,  among  other  ladies  who  attracted  his  at- 
tention, the  Princess  Henrietta.  He  was  much 
struck  with  her  beauty  and  grace,  but  he  little 
thought  that  it  was  this  princess,  and  not  the 
Infanta  whom  he  was  going  in  pursuit  of,  who 
was  really  to  become  his  wife,  and  the  future 
Queen  of  England. 

The  young  travelers  thought  it  not  prudent 
to  remain  long  in  Paris,  and  they  accordingly 
left  that  city,  and  pressed  forward  as  rapidly  as 
possible  toward  the   Spanish  frontier.      They 


46  King    Charles    I.  [1623. 

Bourdeaux.  Entrance  into  Madrid. 

managed,  however,  to  conduct  always  in  such 
a' way  as  to  attract  attention.  Although  they 
were  probably  sincerely  desirous  of  not  having 
their  true  rank  and  character  known,  still  they 
could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  assume  such 
an  air  and  bearing  as  to  make  people  wonder 
who  they  were,  and  thus  increase  the  spirit  and 
adventure  of  their  journey.  At  Bourdeaux 
they  received  invitations  from  some  grandees 
to  be  present  at  some  great  gala,  but  they  de- 
clined, saying  that  they  were  only  poor  gentle- 
men traveling  to  inform  their  minds,  and  were 
not  fit  to  appear  in  such  gay  assemblies. 

At  last  they  approached  Madrid.  They  had, 
besides  Collington,  another  attendant  who  spoke 
the  Spanish  language,  and  served  them  as  an 
interpreter.  They  separated  from  these  two 
the  day  before  they  entered  Madrid,  so  as  to 
attract  the  less  attention.  Their  attendants 
were  to  be  left  behind  for  a  day,  and  afterward 
were  to  follow  them  into  the  city.  The  name 
of  the  British  embassador  at  Madrid  was  the 
Earl  of  Bristol.  He  had  had  charge  of  all  the 
negotiations  in  respect  to  the  marriage,  and  to 
the  restoration  of  the  Palatinate,  and  believed 
that  he  had  brought  them  almost  to  a  success- 
ful termination.     He  lived  in  a  palace  in  Mad- 


1623.]  The   Expedition   into   Spain.  4? 

Bristol's  amazement.  Charles's  reception. 

rid,  and,  as  is  customary  with  the  embassadors 
of  great  powers  at  the  courts  of  great  powers, 
in  a  style  of  the  highest  pomp  and  splendor. 

Buckingham  took  the  prince  directly  to  Bris- 
tol's house.  Bristol  was  utterly  confounded  at 
seeing  them.  Nothing  could  be  worse,  he  said, 
in  respect  to  the  completion  of  the  treaty,  than 
the  prince's  presence  in  Madrid.  The  intro- 
duction of  so  new  and  extraordinary  an  ele- 
ment into  the  affair  would  undo  all  that  had 
been  done,  and  lead  the  King  of  Spain  to  begin 
anew,  and  go  over  all  the  ground  again.  In 
speaking  of  this  occurrence  to  another,  he  said 
that  just  as  he  was  on  the  point  of  coming  to 
a  satisfactory  conclusion  of  his  long  negotia- 
tions and  toils,  a  demon  in  the  shape  of  Prince 
Charles  came  suddenly  upon  the  stage  to  thwart 
and  defeat  them  all. 

The  Spanish  court  was  famous  in  those  days — 
in  fact,  it  has  always  been  famous — for  its  punc- 
tilious attention  to  etiquette  and  parade ;  and 
as  soon  as  the  prince's  arrival  was  known  to 
the  king,  he  immediately  began  to  make  prep- 
arations to  welcome  him  with  all  possible 
pomp  and  ceremony.  A  great  procession  was 
made  through  the  Prado,  which  is  a  street  in 
Madrid    famous    for   promenades,  processions, 


48  King   Charles   I.  [1623. 

Grand  procession.  Spanish  etiquette. 

and  public  displays  of  all  kinds.  In  moving 
through  the  city  on  this  occasion,  the  king  and 
Prince  Charles  walked  together,  the  monarch 
thus  treating  the  prince  as  his  equal.  There 
was  a  great  canopy  of  state  borne  over  their 
heads  as  they  moved  along.  This  canopy  was 
supported  by  a  large  number  of  persons  of  the 
highest  rank.  The  streets,  and  the  windows 
and  balconies  of  the  houses  on  each  side,  were 
thronged  with  spectators,  dressed  in  the  gay  and 
splendid  court  dresses  of  those  times.  When 
they  reached  the  end  of  the  route,  and  were 
about  to  enter  the  gate  of  the  palace,  there  was 
a  delay  to  decide  which  should  enter  first,  the 
king  and  the  prince  each  insisting  on  giving 
the  precedence  to  the  other.  At  last  it  was 
settled  by  their  both  going  in  together. 

If  the  prince  thus,  on  the  one  hand,  derived 
some  benefit  in  the  gratification  of  his  pride  by 
the  Spanish  etiquette  and  parade,  he  suffered 
some  inconvenience  and  disappointment  from  it, 
on  the  other  hand,  by  its  excluding  him  from 
all  intercourse  or  acquaintance  with  the  Infan- 
ta. It  was  not  proper  for  the  young  man  to 
see  or  to  speak  to  the  young  lady,  in  such  a 
case  as  this,  until  the  arrangements  had  been 
more  fully  matured.      The  formalities  of  the 


1623.]  The   Expedition   into   Spain.   49 


The  Inftinta  kept  secluded.  Athletic  amusements. 

engagement  must  have  proceeded  beyond  the 
point  which  they  had  yet  reached,  before  the 
bridegroom  could  be  admitted  to  a  personal  in- 
terview with  the  bride.  It  is  true,  he  could 
see  her  in  public,  where  she  was  in  a  crowd, 
with  other  ladies  of  the  court,  and  where  he 
could  have  no  communication  with  her  ;  but 
this  was  all.  They  arranged  it,  however,  to 
give  Charles  as  many  opportunities  of  this  kind 
as  possible.  They  got  up  shows,  in  which  the 
prince  could  see  the  Infanta  among  the  specta- 
tors ;  and  they  arranged  tiltings  and  ridings  at 
the  ring,  and  other  athletic  sports,  such  as 
Charles  excelled  in,  and  let  him  perform  his  ex- 
ploits in  her  presence.  His  rivals  in  these  con- 
tests did  not  have  the  incivility  to  conquer  him, 
and  his  performances  excited  expressions,  at 
least,  of  universal  admiration. 

But  the  prince  and  Buckingham  did  not 
very  willingly  submit  to  the  stiffness  and  for- 
mality of  the  Spanish  court.  As  soon  as  they 
came  to  feel  a  little  at  home,  they  began  to  act 
with  great  freedom.  At  one  time  the  prince 
learned  that  the  Infanta  was  going,  early  in  the 
morning,  to  take  a  walk  in  some  private  pleas- 
ure grounds,  at  a  country  house  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Madrid,  and  he  conceived  the  de- 
4 


50  King   Charles   I.  [1623. 

Charles  steals  an  interview.  Irregularities. 

sign  of  gaining  an  interview  with  her  there  by 
stealth.  He  accordingly  repaired  to  the  place, 
got  admitted  in  some  way  within  the  precincts 
of  the  palace,  and  contrived  to  clamber  over  a 
high  wall  which  separated  him  from  the  grounds 
in  which  the  Infanta  was  walking,  and  so  let 
himself  down  into  her  presence.  The  accounts 
do  not  state  whether  she  herself  was  pleased  or 
alarmed,  but  the  officer  who  had  her  in  charge, 
an  old  nobleman,  was  very  much  alarmed,  and 
begged  the  prince  to  retire,  as  he  himself  would 
be  subject  to  a  very  severe  punishment  if  it 
were  known  that  he  had  allowed  such  an  inter- 
view. Finally  they  opened  the  door,  and  the 
prince  went  out.  Many  people  were  pleased 
with  this  and  similar  adventures  of  the  prince 
and  of  Buckingham,  but  the  leading  persons 
about  the  court  were  displeased  with  them. 
Their  precise  and  formal  notions  of  propriety 
were  very  much  shocked  by  such  freedoms. 

Besides,  it  was  soon  found  that  the  charac- 
ters of  these  high-born  visitors,  especially  that 
of  Buckingham,  were  corrupt,  and  their  lives 
very  irregular.  Buckingham  was  accustomed 
to  treat  King  James  in  a  very  bold,  familiar, 
and  imperious  manner,  and  he  fell  insensibly 
into  the  same  habits  of  intercourse  with  those 


1623.]  The   Expedition   into   Spain.  51 

Delays  and  difficulties.  Letters.  The  mas»ic  picture. 

about  him  in  Spain.  The  little  reserve  and 
caution  which  he  manifested  at  first  soon  wore 
off,  and  he  began  to  be  very  generally  disliked. 
In  the  mean  time  the  negotiation  was,  as  Bris- 
tol had  expected,  very  much  put  back  by  the 
prince's  arrival.  The  King  of  Spain  formed  new 
plans,  and  thought  of  new  conditions  to  impose. 
The  Catholics,  too,  thought  that  Charles's  com- 
ing thus  into  a  Catholic  country,  indicated  some 
leaning,  on  his  part,  toward  the  Catholic  faith. 
The  pope  actually  wrote  him  a  long  letter,  the 
object  of  which  was  to  draw  him  off  from  the 
ranks  of  Protestantism.  Charles  wrote  a  civil, 
but  rather  an  evasive  reply. 

In  the  mean  time,  King  James  wrote  childish 
letters  from  time  to  time  to  his  two  dear  boys,  as 
he  called  them,  and  he  sent  them  a  great  many 
presents  of  jewelry  and  splendid  dresses,  some 
for  them  to  wear  themselves,  and  some  for  the 
prince  to  offer  as  gifts  to  the  Infanta.  Among 
these,  he  describes,  in  one  of  his  letters,  a  little 
mirror,  set  in  a  case  which  was  to  be  worn  hung 
at  the  girdle.  He  wrote  to  Charles  that  when 
he  gave  this  mirror  to  the  Infanta,  he  must  tell 
her  that  it  was  a  picture  which  he  had  had  im- 
bued with  magical  virtue  by  means  of  incan- 
tations   and    charms,    so    that    whenever    she 


52  King    Charles   I.  [1623. 

The  pope's  dispensation.  The  treaty  signed. 

looked  into  it,  she  would  see  a  portrait  of  the 
most  beautiful  princess  in  England,  France,  or 
Spain. 

At  last  the  great  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the 
conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  marriage,  which  con- 
sisted in  the  delays  and  difficulties  in  getting 
the  pope's  dispensation,  was  removed.  The 
dispensation  came.  But  then  the  King  of 
Spain  wanted  some  new  guarantees  in  respect 
to  the  privileges  of  Catholics  in  England,  under 
pretense  of  securing  more  perfectly  the  rights 
of  the  Infanta  and  of  her  attendants  when  they 
should  have  arrived  in  that  country.  The 
truth  was,  he  probably  wanted  to  avail  him- 
self of  the  occasion  to  gain  some  foothold  for 
the  Catholic  faith  in  England,  which  country 
had  become  almost  entirely  Protestant.  At 
length,  however,  all  obstacles  seemed  to  be  re- 
moved, and  the  treaty  was  signed.  The  news 
of  it  was  received  with  great  joy  in  England, 
as  it  seemed  to  secure  a  permanent  alliance 
between  the  two  powerful  countries  of  England 
and  Spain.  Great  celebrations  took  place  in 
London,  to  do  honor  to  the  occasion.  A  chapel 
was  built  for  the  Infanta,  to  be  ready  for  her 
on  her  arrival ;  and  a  fleet  was  fitted  out  to  con- 
vey her  and  her  attendants  to  her  new  home. 


1623.]  The   Expedition   into   Spain.   53 

Buckingham  is  hated.  He  breaks  off  the  match. 

In  the  mean  time,  however,  although  the 
king  had  signed  the  treaty,  there  was  a  strong 
party  formed  against  the  marriage  in  Spain. 
Buckingham  was  hated  and  despised.  Charles, 
they  saw,  was  almost  entirely  under  his  influ- 
ence. They  said  they  would  rather  see  the  In- 
fanta in  her  grave  than  in  the  hands  of  such 
men.  Buckingham  became  irritated  by  the 
hostility  he  had  awakened,  and  he  determined 
to  break  off  the  match  entirely.  He  wrote 
home  to  James  that  he  had  no  idea  that  the 
Spanish  court  had  any  intention  of  carrying 
the  arrangement  really  into  effect ;  that  they 
were  procrastinating  the  affair  on  every  possi- 
ble pretext,  and  that  he  was  really  afraid  that, 
if  the  prince  were  to  attempt  to  leave  the  coun- 
try, they  would  interpose  and  detain  him  as  a 
prisoner.  King  James  was  very  much  alarmed. 
He  wrote  in  the  greatest  trepidation,  urging 
"  the  lads"  to  come  away  immediately,  leaving 
a  proxy  behind  them,  if  necessary,  for  the  sol- 
emnization of  the  marriage.  This  was  what 
Buckingham  wanted,  and  he  and  the  prince 
began  to  make  preparations  for  their  departure. 

The  King  of  Spain,  far  from  interposing  any 
obstacles  in  the  way,  only  treated  them  with 
greater  and  higher  marks  of  respect   a  a  the 


54  King   Charles  I.  [1623. 


Festivities  at  the  Escurial.  Taking  leave. 

time  of  their  separation  from  his  court  drew 
nigh.  He  arranged  great  and  pompous  cere- 
monies to  honor  their  departure.  He  accom- 
panied them,  with  all  the  grandees  of  the  court, 
as  far  as  to  the  Escurial,  which  is  a  famous 
royal  palace  not  far  from  Madrid,  built,  and 
furnished  in  the  most  sumptuous  style  of  mag- 
nificence and  splendor.  Here  they  had  part- 
ing feasts  and  celebrations.  Here  the  prince 
took  his  leave  of  the  Infanta,  Bristol  serving  as 
interpreter,  to  translate  his  parting  speeches 
into  Spanish,  so  that  she  could  understand  them. 
From  the  Escurial  the  prince  and  Bucking 
ham,  with  a  great  many  English  noblemen 
who  had  followed  them  to  Madrid,  and  a  great 
train  of  attendants,  traveled  toward  the  sea- 
coast,  where  a  fleet  of  vessels  were  ready  to 
receive  them. 

They  embarked  at  a  port  called  St.  Andrew. 
They  came  very  near  being  lost  in  a  storm  of 
mist  and  rain  which  came  upon  them  while 
going  out  to  the  ships,  which  were  at  a  dis- 
tance from  the  shore,  in  small  boats  provided 
to  convey  them.  Having  escaped  this  danger, 
they  arrived  safely  at  Portsmouth,  the  great 
landing  point  of  the  British  navy  on  the  south- 
ern shores  of  England,  and  thence  proceeded  to 


1623.]  The   Expedition   into   Spain.   57 

Return  to  London.  The  Spanish  match  broken  off. 

London.  They  sent  back  orders  that  the  proxy- 
should  not  be  used,  and  the  match  was  finally 
abandoned,  each  party  accusing  the  other  of 
duplicity  and  bad  faith.  King  James  was, 
however,  very  glad  to  get  his  son  safe  back 
again,  and  the  people  made  as  many  bonfires 
and  illuminations  to  celebrate  the  breaking  up 
of  this  Catholic  match,  as  they  had  done  before 
to  do  honor  to  its  supposed  completion.  As  all 
hope  of  recovering  the  Palatinate  by  negotia- 
tion was  now  past,  the  king  began  to  prepare 
for  the  attempt  to  reconquer  it  by  force  of  arms. 


58  King    Charles   I.  [1625. 

James  prepares  for  war.  He  falls  ilL 


Chapter    III. 

Accession    to   the    Throne. 

T/TNG  JAMES  made  slow  progress  in  his 
J-V_  military  preparations.  He  could  not 
raise  the  funds  without  the  action  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  the  houses  were  not  in  very  good 
humor.  The  expenses  of  the  prince's  visit  to 
Spain  had  been  enormous,  and  other  charges, 
arising  out  of  the  pomp  and  splendor  with  which 
the  arrangements  of  the  court  were  maintained, 
gave  them  a  little  feeling  of  discontent.  They 
had  other  grievances  of  which  they  were  dis- 
posed to  complain,  and  they  began  to  look  upon 
this  war,  notwithstanding  its  Protestant  char- 
acter, as  one  in  which  the  king  was  only  striv- 
ing to  recover  his  son-in-law's  dominions,  and, 
consequently,  as  one  which  pertained  more  to 
his  personal  interests  than  to  the  public  welfare 
of  the  realm. 

While  things  were  in  this  state  the  king  fell 
sick.  The  mother  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham 
undertook  to  prescribe  for  him.  It  was  under- 
stood that  Buckingham  himself,  who  had,  in 


1625.]  Accession    to    the    Throne.     59 

Suspicions.  Death  of  James.  Accession  of  Charles. 

the  course  of  the  Spanish  enterprise,  and  since 
his  return,  acquired  an  entire  ascendency  over 
Charles,  was  not  unwilling  that  his  old  master 
should  leave  the  stage,  and  the  younger  one 
reign  in  his  stead ;  and  that  his  mother  shared 
in  this  feeling.  At  any  rate,  her  prescriptions 
made  the  king  much  worse.  He  had  the  sac- 
rament administered  to  him  in  his  sick  cham- 
ber, and  said  that  he  derived  great  comfort  from 
it.  One  morning,  very  early,  he  sent  for  the 
prince  to  come  and  see  him.  Charles  rose, 
dressed  himself,  and  came.  His  father  had 
something  to  say  to  him,  and  tried  to  speak. 
He  could  not.  His  strength  was  too  far  gone. 
He  fell  back  upon  his  pillow,  and  died. 

Charles  was,  of  course,  now  king.  The 
theory  in  the  English  monarchy  is,  that  the 
king  never  dies.  So  soon  as  the  person  in 
whom  the  royal  sovereignty  resides  ceases  to 
breathe,  the  principle  of  supremacy  vests  im- 
mediately in  his  successor,  by  a  law  of  trans- 
mission entirely  independent  of  the  will  of  man. 
The  son  becomes  king  by  a  divine  right.  His 
being  proclaimed  and  crowned,  as  he  usually 
is,  at  some  convenient  time  early  in  his  reign, 
are  not  ceremonies  which  make  him  king. 
They  only   acknowledge  him  to  be   so.      He 


60  King    Charles   I.  [1625. 

Different  ideas  of  the  nature  and  end  of  government 


does  not,  in  any  sense,  derive  his  powers  and 
prerogatives  from  these  acts.  He  only  receives 
from  his  people,  by  means  of  them,  a  recogni- 
tion of  his  right  to  the  high  office  to  which  he 
has  already  been  inducted  by  the  fiat  of  Heaven. 
It  will  be  observed,  thus,  that  the  ideas  which 
prevailed  in  respect  to  the  nature  and  province 
of  government,  were  very  different  in  England 
at  that  time  from  those  which  are  entertained 
in  America  at  the  present  day.  With  us,  the 
administration  of  government  is  merely  a  busi- 
ness, transacted  for  the  benefit  of  the  people 
by  their  agents — men  who  are  put  in  power 
for  this  purpose,  and  who,  like  other  agents, 
are  responsible  to  their  principals  for  the  man- 
ner in  which  they  fulfill  their  trusts.  But  gov- 
ernment in  England  was,  in  the  days  of  the 
Stuarts — and  it  is  so  to  a  great  extent  at  the 
present  day — a  right  which  one  family  possess- 
ed, and  which  entitled  that  family  to  certain  im- 
munities, powers,  and  prerogatives,  which  they 
held  entirely  independent  of  any  desire,  on  the 
part  of  the  people,  that  they  should  exercise 
them,  or  even  their  consent  that  they  should  do 
so.  The  right  to  govern  the  realm  of  Great 
Britain  was  a  sort  of  estate  which  descended 
to  Charles  from  his  ancestors,  and  with  the  pos- 


1625.]  Accession    to    the    Throne.     61 

Hereditary  succession  illustrated  by  an  argument. 

session  and  enjoyment  of  which  the  community 
had  no  right  to  interfere. 

This  seems,  at  first  view,  very  absurd  to  us, 
but  it  is  not  particularly  absurd.  Charles's 
lawyers  would  say  to  any  plain  proprietor  of  a 
piece  of  land,  who  might  call  in  question  his 
right  to  govern  the  country,  The  king  holds  his 
crown  by  precisely  the  same  tenure  that  you 
hold  your  farm.  Why  should  you  be  the  ex- 
clusive possessor  of  that  land,  while  so  many 
poor  beggars  are  starving  ?  Because  it  has  de- 
scended to  you  from  your  ancestors,  and  noth- 
ing has  descended  to  them.  And  it  is  precise- 
ly so  that  the  right  to  manage  the  fleets  and 
armies,  and  to  administer  the  laws  of  the  realm, 
has  descended,  under  the  name  of  sovereignty, 
to  him,  and  no  such  political  power  has  de- 
scended to  you. 

True,  the  farmer  would  reply ;  but  in  mat- 
ters of  government  we  are  to  consider  what 
will  promote  the  general  good.  The  great  ob- 
ject to  be  attained  is  the  welfare  and  happiness 
of  the  community.  Now,  if  this  general  wel- 
fare comes  into  competition  with  the  supposed 
rights  of  individuals,  arising  from  such  a  prin- 
ciple as  hereditary  succession,  the  latter  ought 
certainly  to  yield. 


62  King    Charles    I.  [1625. 

Property  and  prerogatives.         Hereditary  succession  an  absolute  right. 

But  why,  might  the  lawyer  reply,  should 
rights  founded  on  hereditary  succession  yield 
any  more  readily  in  the  case  of  government 
than  in  the  case  of  property  ?  The  distribution 
of  property  influences  the  general  welfare  quite 
as  much  as  the  management  of  power.  Sup- 
pose it  were  proved  that  the  general  welfare  of 
your  parish  would  be  promoted  by  the  division 
of  your  land  among  the  destitute  there.  You 
have  nothing  to  oppose  to  such  a  proposition 
but  your  hereditary  right.  And  the  king  has 
that  to  oppose  to  any  plan  of  a  division  of  his 
prerogatives  and  powers  among  the  people  who 
would  like  to  share  them. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  this  reasoning 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  at  the  present 
day,  it  was  considered  very  satisfactory  in  En- 
gland two  or  three  centuries  ago.  The  true 
and  proper  jurisdiction  of  an  English  monarch, 
as  it  had  existed  from  ancient  times,  was  con- 
sidered as  an  absolute  right,  vesting  in  each 
successive  inheritor  of  the  crown,  and  which 
the  community  could  not  justly  interfere  with 
or  disturb  for  any  reasons  less  imperious  than 
such  as  would  authorize  an  interference  with 
the  right  of  succession  to  private  property.  In- 
deed, it  is  probable  that,  with  most  men  at 


1625.]  Accession    to    the    Throne.      63 

Three  things  hereditary  in  England.  The  Stuarts. 

that  time,  an  inherited  right  to  govern  was 
regarded  as  the  most  sacred  of  the  two. 

The  fact  seems  to  be,  that  the  right  of  a  son 
to  come  into  the  place  of  his  father,  whether  in 
respect  to  property,  power,  or  social  rank,  is 
not  a  natural,  inherent,  and  indefeasible  right, 
but  a  privilege  which  society  accords,  as  a 
matter  of  convenience  and  expediency.  In  En- 
gland, expediency  is,  on  the  whole,  considered 
to  require  that  all  three  of  these  things,  viz., 
property,  rank,  and  power,  in  certain  cases, 
should  descend  from  father  to  son.  In  this 
country,  on  the  other  hand,  we  confine  the  he- 
reditament to  property,  abrogating  it  in  the 
case  of  rank  and  power.  In  neither  case  is 
there  probably  any  absolute  natural  right,  but 
a  conventional  right  is  allowed  to  take  its  place 
in  one,  or  another,  or  all  of  these  particulars, 
according  to  the  opinion  of  the  community  in 
respect  to  what  its  true  interests  and  the  gen- 
eral welfare,  on  the  whole,  require. 

The  kings  themselves  of  this  Stuart  race — 
which  race  includes  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  the 
mother  of  the  line,  and  James  I.,  Charles  I., 
Charles  II.,  and  James  II. — entertained  very 
high  ideas  of  these  hereditary  rights  of  theirs 
to  govern  the  realm  of  England.     They  felt  a 


64  King    Charles    I.  [1625. 

Parliament  The  Legislature  in  the  United  States. 

determination  to  maintain  these  rights  and 
powers  at  all-  hazards.  Charles  ascended  the 
throne  with  these  feelings,  and  the  chief  point 
of  interest  in  the  history  of  his  reign  is  the  con- 
test in  which  he  engaged  with  the  English  peo- 
ple in  his  attempts  to  maintain  them. 

The  body  with  which  the  king  came  most 
immediately  into  conflict  in  this  long  struggle 
were  the  two  houses  of  Parliament.  And  here 
American  readers  are  very  liable  to  fall  into  a 
mistake  by  considering  the  houses  of  Parlia- 
ment as  analogous  to  the  houses  of  legislation 
in  the  various  governments  of  this  country. 
In  our  governments  the  chief  magistrate  has 
only  to  execute  definite  and  written  laws  and  or- 
dinances, passed  by  the  Legislature,  and  which 
the  Legislature  may  pass  with  or  without  his 
consent ;  and  when  enacted,  he  must  be  gov- 
erned by  them.  Thus  the  president  or  the 
governor  is,  in  a  certain  sense,  the  agent  and 
officer  of  the  legislative  power  of  the  state,  to 
carry  into  effect  its  decisions,  and  this  legisla- 
tive power  has  really  the  control. 

By  the  ancient  Constitution  of  England,  how- 
ever, the  Parliament  was  merely  a  body  of 
counselors,  as  it  were,  summoned  by  the  king 
to  give  him  their  advice,  to  frame  for  him  such 


1625.]  Accession    to    the    Throne.     65 

The  nature  of  Parliament.  The  nobles. 

laws  as  he  wanted  to  have  framed,  and  to  aid 
him  in  raising  funds  by  taxing  the  people. 
The  king  might  call  this  council  or  not,  as  he 
pleased.  There  was  no  necessity  for  calling  it 
unless  he  needed  more  funds  than  he  could 
raise  by  his  own  resources.  When  called,  they 
felt  that  they  had  come,  in  a  great  measure,  to 
aid  the  king  in  doing  his  will.  When  they 
framed  a  law,  they  sent  it  to  him,  and  if  he 
was  satisfied  with  it,  he  made  it  law.  It  was 
the  king  who  really  enacted  it.  If  he  did  not 
approve  the  law,  he  wrote  upon  the  parchment 
which  contained  it,  "  The  king  will  think  of  it," 
and  that  was  the  end.  The  king  would  call 
upon  them  to  assess  a  tax  and  collect  the  mon- 
ey, and  would  talk  to  them  about  his  plans, 
and  his  government,  and  the  aid  which  he 
wanted  from  them  to  enable  him  to  accomplish 
what  he  had  himself  undertaken.  In  fact,  the 
king  was  the  government,  and  the  houses  of 
Parliament  his  instruments  to  aid  him  in  giv- 
ing effect  to  his  decrees. 

The  nobles,  that  is,  the  heads  of  the  great 
families,  and  also  the  bishops,  who  were  the 
heads  of  the  various  dioceses  of  the  Church, 
formed  one  branch  of  this  great  council.  This 
was  called  the  House  of  Lords.  Certain  repre- 
5 


66  King    Charles    I.  [1625. 

The  Hou9C  of  Commons.  Its  humble  position. 

sentatives  of  the  counties  and  of  the  towns 
formed  another  branch,  called  the  House  of 
Commons.  These  delegates  came  to  the  coun- 
cil, not  from  any  right  which  the  counties  and 
towns  were  supposed  to  possess  to  a  share  in 
the  government,  but  simply  because  they  were 
summoned  by  the  king  to  come  and  give  him 
their  aid.  They  were  to  serve  without  pay,  as 
a  matter  of  duty  which  they  owed  to  the  sov- 
ereign. Those  that  came  from  counties  were 
called  knights,  and  those  from  the  towns  bur- 
gesses. These  last  were  held  in  very  little  es- 
timation. The  towns,  in  those  days,  were  con- 
sidered as  mere  collections  of  shopkeepers  and 
tradesmen,  who  were  looked  down  upon  with 
much  disdain  by  the  haughty  nobles.  When 
the  king  called  his  Parliament  together,  and 
went  in  to  address  them,  he  entered  the  cham- 
ber of  the  House  of  Peers,  and  the  commons 
were  called  in,  to  stand  where  they  could,  with 
their  heads  uncovered,  to  hear  what  he  had  to 
say.  They  were,  in  a  thousand  other  ways, 
treated  as  an  inferior  class  ;  but  still  their  coun- 
sels might,  in  some  cases,  be  of  service,  and  so 
they  were  summoned  to  attend,  though  they 
were  to  meet  always,  and  deliberate,  in  a  sep- 
arate chamber. 


1625.]  Accession    to    the    Throne.     67 

The  king's  power  over  Parliament.  His  responsibility. 

As  the  king  could  call  the  Parliament  to- 
gether at  any  time  and  place  he  pleased,  so  he 
could  suspend  or  terminate  their  sittings  at  any 
time.  He  could  intermit  the  action  of  a  Par- 
liament for  a  time,  sending  the  members  to 
their  homes  until  he  should  summon  them 
again.  This  was  called  a  prorogation.  Or 
he  could  dissolve  the  body  entirely  at  any 
time,  and  then  require  new  elections  for  a 
new  Parliament  whenever  he  wanted  to  avail 
himself  of  the  wisdom  or  aid  of  such  a  body 
again. 

Thus  every  thing  went  on  the  supposition 
that  the  real  responsibility  for  the  government 
was  with  the  king.  He  was  the  monarch,  and 
the  real  sovereignty  vested  in  him.  He  called 
his  nobles,  and  a  delegation  from  the  mass  of 
the  people,  together,  whenever  he  wanted  their 
help,  and  not  otherwise.  He  was  responsible, 
not  to  them  nor  to  the  people  at  large,  but  to 
God  only,  for  the  acts  of  his  administration. 
The  duty  of  Parliament  was  limited  to  that  of 
aiding  him  in  carrying  out  his  plans  of  gov- 
ernment, and  the  people  had  nothing  to  do  but 
to  be  obedient,  submissive,  and  loyal.  These 
were,  at  any  rate,  the  ideas  of  the  kings,  and 
all  the  forms  of  the  English  Constitution,  and 


68  King    Charles    I.  [1625. 

An  illustration.  James's  message  to  Parliament. 

the  ancient  phraseology  in  which  the  transac- 
tions are  expressed,  correspond  with  them. 

We  can  not  give  a  better  proof  and  illustra- 
tion of  what  has  been  said  than  by  transcrib- 
ing the  substance  of  one  of  King  James's  mes- 
sages to  his  Parliament,  delivered  about  the 
close  of  his  life,  and,  of  course,  at  the  period  of 
which  we  are  writing.     It  was  as  follows : 

':  My  Lords  spiritual  and  temporal,  and  you  the  Commons : 
In  my  last  Parliament  I  made  long  discourses,  especially  to 
them  of  the  Lower  House.  I  did  open  the  true  thought  of  my 
heart.  But  I  may  say  with  our  Savior,  '  I  have  piped  to  you 
and  ye  have  not  danced ;  I  have  mourned  to  you  and  you 
have  not  lamented;'  so  all  my  sayings  turned  to  me  again 
without  any  success.  And  now,  to  tell  the  reasons  of  your 
calling  and  of  this  meeting,  apply  it  to  yourselves,  and  spend 
not  the  time  in  long  speeches.  Consider  that  the  Parliament 
is  a  thing  composed  of  a  head  and  a  body;  the  monarch  and 
the  two  estates.  It  was,  first,  a  monarchy ;  then,  after,  a  Par- 
liament. There  are  no  Parliaments  but  in  monarchical  gov- 
ernments; for  in  Venice,  the  Netherlands,  and  other  free 
governments  there  are  none.  The  head  is  to  call  the  body 
together ;  and  for  the  clergy  the  bishops  are  chief,  for  shires 
their  knights,  for  towns  and  cities  their  burgesses  and  citi- 
zens. These  are  to  treat  of  difficult  matters,  and  counsel 
their  king  with  their  best  advice  to  make  laws*  for  the  com- 
monweal ;  and  the  Lower  House  is  also  to  petition  the  king 
and  acquaint  him  with  their  grievances,  and  not  to  meddle 
with  the  king's  prerogative.  They  are  to  offer  supply  for 
his  necessity,  and  he  to  distribute,  hi  recompense  thereof, 

*  Meaning  advice  to  him  how  he  shall  make  laws,  as  is 
evident  from  what  is  said  below. 


1625.]  Accession 

TO 

THE 

Throne.     69 

James's  message  to  Parliament. 

Its  high  tone. 

justice  and  mercy.  As  in  all  Parliaments  it  is  the  king's  of- 
fice to  make  good  laws,  whose  fundamental  cause  is  the  peo- 
ple's ill  manners,  so  at  this  time. 

"  For  a  supply  to  my  necessities,  I  have  reigned  eighteen 
years,  in  which  I  have  had  peace,  and  I  have  received  far 
less  supply  than  hath  been  given  to  any  king  since  the  Con- 
quest. The  last  queen  had,  one  year  with  another,  above  a 
hundred  thousand  pounds  per  annum  in  subsidies ;  and  in  all 
my  time  I  have  had  but  four  subsidies*  and  six  fifteens.*  It 
is  ten  years  since  I  had  a  subsidy,  in  all  which  time  I  have 
been  sparing  to  trouble  you.  I  have  turned  myself  as  nearly 
to  save  expenses  as  I  may.  I  have  abated  much  in  my 
household  expenses,  in  my  navies,  and  the  charge  of  my  mu- 
nition." 

After  speaking  about  the  affairs  of  the  Pa- 
latinate, and  calling  upon  the  Parliament  to 
furnish  him  with  money  to  recover  it  for  his 
son-in-law,  he  adds : 

"  Consider  the  trade  for  the  making  thereof  better,  and 
show  me  the  reason  why  my  mint,  these  eight  or  nine  years, 
hath  not  gone.  I  confess  I  have  been  liberal  in  my  grants ; 
but  if  I  be  informed,  I  will  amend  all  hurtful  grievances. 
But  whoever  shall  hasten  after  grievances,  and  desire  to  make 
himself  popular,  he  hath  the  spirit  of  Satan.  I  was,  in  my 
first  Parliament,  a  novice ;  and  in  my  last,  there  was  a  kind 
of  beasts,  called  undertakers,  a  dozen  of  whom  undertook  to 
govern  the  last  Parliament,  and  they  led  me.  I  shall  thank 
yon  for  your  good  office,  and  desire  that  the  world  may  say 
well  of  our  agreement." 

This  kind  of  harangue  from  the  king  to  his 
Parliament  seems  not  to  have  been  considered, 

*  Species  of  taxes  granted  by  Parliament. 


70  King    Charles    I.  [1625. 

Privileges  of  the  House  of  Commons. 

at  the  time,  at  all  extraordinary  ;  though,  if 
such  a  message  were  to  be  sent,  at  the  present 
day,  by  a  President  of  the  United  States  to  the 
houses  of  Congress,  we  think  it  would  make  a 
sensation. 

Still,  notwithstanding  what  we  have  said, 
the  Parliament  did  contrive  gradually  to  attain 
to  the  possession  of  some  privileges  and  powers 
of  its  own.  The  English  people  have  a  great 
deal  of  independence  and  spirit,  though  Ameri- 
cans traveling  there,  with  ideas  carried  from 
this  country,  are  generally  surprised  at  finding 
so  little  instead  of  so  much.  The  knights  and 
burgesses  of  the  House  of  Commons,  though 
they  submitted  patiently  to  the  forms  of  degra- 
dation which  the  lords  and  kings  imposed  upon 
them,  gradually  got  possession  of  certain  pow- 
ers which  they  claimed  as  their  own,  and  which 
they  showed  a  strong  disposition  to  defend. 
They  claimed  the  exclusive  right  to  lay  taxes 
of  every  kind.  This  had  been  the  usage  so 
long,  that  they  had  the  same  right  to  it  that 
the  king  had  to  his  crown.  They  had  a  right, 
too,  to  petition  the  king  for  a  redress  of  any 
grievances  which  they  supposed  the  people 
were  suffering  under  his  reign.  These,  and 
certain    other    powers   and   immunities   which 


1625.]   Accession    to    the    Throne.     71 

The  king's  prerogatives.  Charles's  contest  with  Parliament. 

they  had  possessed,  were  called  their  privileges. 
The  king's  rights  were,  on  the  other  hand, 
called  his  prerogatives.  The  Parliament  were 
always  endeavoring  to  extend,  define,  and  es- 
tablish their  privileges.  The  king  was  equally 
bent  on  maintaining  his  ancient  prerogatives. 
King  Charles's  reign  derives  its  chief  interest 
from  the  long  and  insane  contest  which  he 
waged  with  his  Parliament  on  this  question. 
The  contest  commenced  at  the  king's  accession 
to  the  throne,  and  lasted  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury :  it  ended  with  his  losing  all  his  preroga- 
tives and  his  head. 

This  circumstance,  that  the  main  interest  in 
King  Charles's  reign  is  derived  from  his  con- 
test with  his  Parliament,  has  made  it  necessary 
to  explain  somewhat  fully,  as  we  have  done, 
the  nature  of  that  body.  We  have  described  it 
as  it  was  in  the  days  of  the  Stuarts  ;  but,  in 
order  not  to  leave  any  wrong  impression  on  the 
mind  of  the  reader  in  regard  to  its  present  con- 
dition, we  must  add,  that  though  all  its  ex- 
ternal forms  remain  the  same,  the  powers  and 
functions  of  the  body  have  greatly  changed. 
The  despised  and  contemned  knights  and  bur- 
gesses, that  were  not  worthy  to  have  seats  pro- 
vided for  them  when  the  king  was  delivering 


72  King    Charles    I.  [1625. 

Present  condition  of  the  Commons.  Its  vast  influence. 

them  his  speech,  now  rule  the  world  ;  or,  at 
least,  come  nearer  to  the  possession  of  that  do- 
minion than  any  other  power  has  ever  done,  in 
ancient  or  modern  times.  They  decide  who 
shall  administer  the  government,  and  in  what 
way.  They  make  the  laws,  settle  questions 
of  trade  and  commerce,  decide  really  on  peace 
and  war,  and,  in  a  word,  hold  the  whole  con- 
trol, while  the  nominal  sovereign  takes  rides 
in  the  royal  parks,  or  holds  drawing-rooms  in 
the  palaces,  iii^  empty  and  powerless  parade. 
There  is  no  question  that  the  British  House  of 
Commons  has  exerted  a  far  wider  influence  on 
the  destinies  of  the  human  race  than  anj*  other 
governmental  power  that  has  ever  existed.  It 
has  gone  steadily  on  for  five,  and  perhaps  for 
ten  centuries,  in  the  same  direction  and  toward 
the  same  ends ;  and  whatever  revolutions  may 
threaten  other  elements  of  European  power, 
the  British  House  of  Commons,  in  some  form 
or  other,  is  as  sure  as  any  thing  human  can  be 
of  existence  and  power  for  five  or  ten  centuries 
to  come. 

And  yet  it  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of 
the  strange  phenomena  of  social  life,  that  this 
body,  standing  at  the  head,  as  it  really  does, 
of  all  human  power,  submits  patiently  still  to 


1625.]  Accession    to    the    Throne.     73 

Old  forms  still  retained.  Will  probably  be  changed. 

all  the  marks  and  tokens  of  inferiority  and  deg- 
radation which  accompanied  its  origin.  It 
comes  together  when  the  sovereign  sends  writs, 
ordering  the  several  constituencies  to  choose 
their  representatives,  and  the  representatives  to 
assemble.  It  comes  humbly  into  the  House  of 
Peers  to  listen  to  the  instructions  of  the  sover- 
eign at  the  opening  of  the  session,  the  mem- 
bers in  a  standing  position,  and  with  heads  un- 
covered.* It  debates  these  suggestions  with 
forms  and  in  a  phraseology  which  imply  that 
it  is  only  considering  what  counsel  to  give  the 
king.  It  enacts  nothing — it  only  recommends  ; 
and  it  holds  its  existence  solely  at  the  discre- 
tion of  the  great  imaginary  power  which  called 
it  into  being.  These  forms  may,  very  proba- 
bly, soon  be  changed  for  others  more  true  to 
the  facts  ;  and  the  principle  of  election  may  be 
changed,  so  as  to  make  the  body  represent  more 
fully  the  general  population  of  the  empire ;  but 
the  body  itself  will  doubtless  continue  its  action 
for  a  very  long  period  to  come. 

According  to  the  view  of  the  subject  which 

*  Even  in  the  case  of  a  committee  of  conference  between 
the  two  houses,  the  lords  have  seats  in  the  committee-room, 
and  wear  their  hats.  The  members  from  the  commons  must 
stand,  and  be  uncovered  during  the  deliberations  • 


74  King    Charles    I.  [1625. 

Effects  of  a  demise  of  the  crown.  All  offices  expire. 

we  have  presented,  it  would,  of  course  follow, 
as  the  real  sovereignty  was  mainly  in  the  king's 
hands,  that  at  the  death  of  one  monarch  and 
the  accession  of  another,  the  functions  of  all 
officers  holding  their  places  under  the  authority 
of  the  former  would  expire.  This  was  actually 
the  case.  And  it  shows  how  entirely  the  Par- 
liament was  considered  as  the  instrument  and 
creation  of  the  king,  that  on  the  death  of  a  king, 
the  Parliament  immediately  expired.  The  new 
monarch  must  make  a  new  Parliament  if  he 
wished  one  to  help  him  carry  out  his  own  plans. 
In  the  same  manner  almost  all  other  offices  ex- 
pired. As  it  would  be  extremely  inconvenient 
or  impossible  to  appoint  anew  all  the  officers 
of  such  a  realm  on  a  sudden  emergency,  it  is 
usual  for  the  king  to  issue  a  decree  renewing 
the  appointments  of  the  existing  incumbents  of 
these  offices.  Thus  King  Charles,  two  days 
after  his  father's  death,  made  it  his  first  act  to 
renew  the  appointments  of  the  members  of  his 
father's  privy  council,  of  the  foreign  embassa- 
dors, and  of  the  judges  of  the  courts,  in  order 
that  the  affairs  of  the  empire  might  go  on  with- 
out interruption.  He  also  issued  summonses 
for  calling  a  Parliament,  and  then  made  ar- 
rangements for  the  solemnization  of  his  father's 
funeral. 


1625.]  Accession    to    the    Throne.     77 


Westminster.  The  Strand.  Temple  Bar. 

The  scene  of  these  transactions  was  what 
was,  in  those  days,  called  Westminster.  Min- 
ster means  cathedral.  A  cathedral  church  had 
been  built,  and  an  abbey  founded,  at  a  short 
distance  west  from  London,  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Thames.  The  church  was  called  the  West 
minster,  and  the  abbey,  Westminster  Abbey. 
The  town  afterward  took  the  same  name.  The 
street  leading  to  the  city  of  London  from  West- 
minster was  called  the  Strand  ;  it  lay  along  the 
shore  of  the  river.  The  gate  by  which  the  city 
of  London  was  entered  on  this  side  was  called 
Temple  Bar,  on  account  of  a  building  just 
within  the  walls,  at  that  point,  which  was  call- 
ed the  Temple.  In  process  of  time,  London  ex- 
panded beyond  its  bounds  and  spread  westward. 
The  Strand  became  a  magnificent  street  of 
shops  and  stores.  Westminster  was  filled  with 
palaces  and  houses  of  the  nobility,  the  whole 
region  being  entirely  covered  with  streets  and 
edifices  of  the  greatest  magnificence  and  splen- 
dor. Westminster  is  now  called  the  West  End 
of  London,  though  the  jurisdiction  of  the  city 
still  ends  at  Temple  Bar. 

Parliament  held  its  sessions  in  a  building 
near  the  shore,  called  St.  Stephen's.  The  king's 
palace,  called   St.  James's  Palace,  was  near. 


78  King    Charles    I.  [1625. 

Somerset  House.  James's  funeral. 

The  old  church  became  a  place  of  sepulture  for 
the  English  kings,  where  a  long  line  of  them 
now  repose.  The  palace  of  King  James's  wife, 
Anne  of  Denmark,  was  on  the  bank  of  the  river, 
some  distance  down  the  Strand.  She  called  it, 
during  her  life,  Denmark  House,  in  honor  of 
her  native  land.  Its  name  is  -now  Somerset 
House. 

King  James's  funeral  was  attended  with 
great  pomp.  The  body  was  conveyed  from 
Somerset  House  to  its  place  of  repose  in  the 
Abbey,  and  attended  by  a  great  procession. 
King  Charles  walked  as  chief  mourner.  Two 
earls  attended  him,  one  on  each  side,  and  the 
train  of  his  robes  was  borne  by  twelve  peers 
of  the  realm.  The  expenses  of  this  funeral 
amounted  to  a  sum  equal  to  two  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars. 

One  thing  more  is  to  be  stated  before  we 
can  consider  Charles  as  fairly  entered  upon  his 
career,  and  that  is  the  circumstance  of  his  mar- 
riage. His  father  James,  so  soon  as  he  found 
the  negotiations  with  Spain  must  be  finally 
abandoned,  opened  a  new  negotiation  with  the 
King  of  France  for  his  daughter  Henrietta 
Maria.  After  some  delay,  this  arrangement 
was  concluded  upon.     The  treaty  of  marriage 


1625.]  Accession    to    the    Throne.     79 

Marriage  of  Charles.  Imposing  ceremonies. 

was  made,  and  soon  after  the  old  king's  death, 
Charles  began  to  think  of  bringing  home  his 
bride. 

He  accordingly  made  out  a  commission  for  a 
nobleman,  appointed  for  the  purpose,  to  act  in 
his  name,  in  the  performance  of  the  ceremony 
at  Paris.  The  pope's  dispensation  was  obtain- 
ed, Henrietta  Maria,  as  well  as  the  Infanta, 
being  a  Catholic.  The  ceremony  was  perform- 
ed, as  such  ceremonies  usually  were  in  Paris, 
in  the  famous  church  of  Notre  Dame,  where 
Charles's  grandmother,  Mary  Queen  of  Scots, 
had  been  married  to  a  prince  of  France  about 
seventy  years  before. 

There  was  a  great  theater,  or  platform,  erect- 
ed in  front  of  the  altar  in  the  church,  which 
was  thronged  by  the  concourse  of  spectators 
who  rushed  to  witness  the  ceremony.  The 
beautiful  princess  was  married  by  proxy  to  a 
man  in  another  kingdom,  whom  she  had  never 
seen,  or,  at  least,  never  known.  It  is  not 
probable  that  she  observed  him  at  the  time 
when  he  was,  for  one  evening,  in  her  presence, 
on  his  journey  through  Paris.  The  Duke  of 
Buckingham  had  been  sent  over  by  Charles  to 
conduct  home  his  bride.  Ships  were  waiting 
at  Boulogne,  a  port  nearly  opposite  to  Dover, 


80  King    Charles    I.  [1625. 

Arrival  of  the  bride  at  London.  Her  residence. 

to  take  her  and  her  attendants  on  board.  She 
bade  farewell  to  the  palaces  of  Paris,  and  set 
out  on  her  journey.* 

The  king,  in  the  mean  time,  had  gone  to 
Dover,  where  he  awaited  her  arrival.  She 
landed  at  Dover  on  the  day  after  sailing  from 
Boulogne,  sea-sick  and  sad.  The  king  received 
his  bride,  and  with  their  attendants  they  went 
by  carriages  to  Canterbury,  and  on  the  follow- 
ing day  they  entered  London.  Great  prepara- 
tions had  been  made  for  receiving  the  king  and 
his  consort  in  a  suitable  manner ;  but  London 
was,  at  this  time,  in  a  state  of  great  distress 
and  fear  on  account  of  the  plague  which  had 
broken  out  there.  The  disease  had  increased 
during  the  king's  absence,  and  the  alarm  and 
anxiety  were  so  great,  that  the  rejoicings  on 
account  of  the  arrival  of  the  queen  were  omit- 
ted. She  journeyed  quietly,  therefore,  to  West- 
minster, and  took  up  her  abode  at  Somerset 
House,  which  had  been  the  residence  of  her 
predecessor.  They  had  fitted  it  up  for  her  re- 
ception, providing  for  it,  among  other  conven- 
iences, a  Roman  Catholic  chapel,  where  she 
could  enjoy  the  services  of  religion  in  the  forms 
to  which  she  had  been  accustomed. 

*  See  portrait  at  the  commencement  of  this  volume. 


1625.]  Buckingham.  81 

Charles's  accession.  Leading  events  of  his  reign. 


Chapter    IV. 
Bucking  ii  a  m. 

CHARLES  commenced  his  reign  in  1625. 
He  continued  to  reign  about  twenty-four 
years.  It  will  assist  the  reader  to  receive  and 
retain  in  mind  a  clear  idea  of  the  course  of 
events  during  his  reign,  if  we  regard  it  as  di- 
vided into  three  periods.  During  the  first, 
which  continued  about  four  years,  Charles  and 
the  Parliament  were  both  upon  the  stage,  con- 
tending with  each  other,  but  not  at  open  war. 
Each  party  managed,  and  maneuvered,  and 
struggled  to  gain  its  own  ends,  the  disagree- 
ment widening  and  deepening  continually,  till  it 
ended  in  an  open  rupture,  when  Charles  aban- 
doned the  plan  of  having  Parliaments  at  all, 
and  attempted  to  govern  alone.  This  attempt 
to  manage  the  empire  without  a  legislature 
lasted  for  ten  years,  and  is  the  second  period. 
After  this  a  Parliament  was  called,  and  it  soon 
made  itself  independent  of  the  king,  and  be- 
came hostile  to  him,  the  two  powers  being  at 
open  war,  which  constitutes  the  third  period. 
6 


82  King    Charles   I.  [1625. 

Buckingham.  His  influence  over  the  king. 

Thus  we  have  four  years  spent  in  getting  into 
the  quarrel  between  the  king  and  Parliament, 
ten  years  in  an  attempt  by  the  king  to  govern 
alone,  and,  finally,  ten  years  of  war,  more  or 
less  open,  the  king  on  one  side,  and  the  Parlia- 
ment on  the  other. 

The  first  four  years — that  is,  the  time  spent 
in  getting  really  into  the  quarrel  with  Parlia- 
ment, was  Buckingham's  work,  for  during  that 
time  Buckingham's  influence  with  the  king 
was  paramount  and  supreme  ;  and  whatever 
was  done  that  was  important  or  extraordinary, 
though  done  in  the  king's  name,  really  origi- 
nated in  him.  The  whole  country  knew  this, 
and  were  indignant  that  such  a  man,  so  un- 
principled, so  low  In  character,  so  reckless,  and 
so  completely  under  the  sway  of  his  impulses 
and  passions,  should  have  such  an  influence 
over  the  king,  and,  through  him,  such  power  to 
interfere  with  and  endanger  the  mighty  in- 
terests of  so  vast  a  realm. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  in  conse- 
quence of  what  has  been  said  about  the  extent 
of  the  regal  power  in  England,  that  the  daily 
care  and  responsibility  of  the  affairs  of  govern- 
ment, in  its  ordinary  administration,  rested  di- 
rectly upon  the  king.     It  is  not  possible  that 


1625.]  Buckingham.  83 

General  system  of  government. 

any  one  mind  can  even  comprehend,  far  less  di- 
rect, such  an  enormous  complication  of  inter- 
ests and  of  action  as  is  involved  in  the  carry- 
ing on,  from  day  to  day,  the  government  of  an 
empire.  Offices,  authorities,  and  departments 
of  administration  spring  up  gradually,  and  all 
the  ordinary  routine  of  the  affairs  of  the  empire 
are  managed  by  them.  Thus  the  navy  was  all 
completely  organized,  with  its  gradations  of 
rank,  its  rules  of  action,  its  records,  its  account 
books,  its  offices  and  arrangements  for  provi- 
sionment  and  supply,  the  whole  forming  a  vast 
system  which  moved  on  of  itself,  whether  the 
king  were  present  or  absent,  sick  or  well,  living 
or  dead.  It  was  so  with  the  army ;  it  was  so 
with  the  courts ;  it  was  so  with  the  general  ad- 
ministration of  the  government  at  London. 
The  immense  mass  of  business  which  consti- 
tuted the  work  of  government  was  all  system- 
atized and  arranged,  and  it  moved  on  regular- 
ly, in  the  hands  of  more  or  less  prudent  and 
careful  men,  who  governed,  themselves,  by  an- 
cient rules  and  usages,  and  in  most  cases  man- 
aged wisely. 

Every  thing,  however,  was  done  in  the  king's 
name.  The  ships  were  his  majesty's  ships, 
the  admirals  were  his  majesty's  servants,  the 


84  King   Charles    I.  [1625. 

His  majesty.  Every  thing  done  in  the  king's  name. 

war  was  his  majesty's  war,  the  court  was  the 
King's  Bench.  The  idea  was.  that  all  these 
thousands  of  officers,  of  all  ranks  and  grades, 
were  only  an  enormous  multiplication  of  his 
majesty  ;  that  they  might  do  his  will  and  carry 
on  his  administration  as  he  would  himself  carry 
it  on  were  he  personally  capable  of  attending  to 
such  a  vast  detail ;  subject,  of  course,  to  cer- 
tain limits  and  restrictions  which  the  laws  and 
customs  of  the  realm,  and  the  promises  and 
contracts  of  his  predecessors,  had  imposed.  But 
although  all  this  action  was  theoretically  the 
king's  action,  it  came  to  be,  in  fact,  almost 
wholly  independent  of  him.  It  went  on  of  it- 
self, in  a  regular  and  systematic  way,  pursuing 
its  own  accustomed  course,  except  so  far  as  the 
king  directly  interposed  to  modify  its  action. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  the  king  would 
certainly  take  the  general  direction  of  affairs 
into  his  own  hands,  and  that  this  charge,  at 
least,  would  necessarily  come  upon  him,  as 
king,  day  by  day.  Some  monarchs  have  at- 
tempted to  do  this,  but  it  is  obvious  that  there 
must  be  some  provision  for  having  this  general 
charge,  as  well  as  all  the  subordinate  functions 
of  government,  attended  to  independently  of  the 
king,  as  his  being  always  in  a  condition  to  ful- 


1625.]  Buckingham.  85 

The  Privy  Council.  It  represents  the  king. 

fill  this  duty  is  not  to  be  relied  upon.  Some- 
times the  king  is  young  and  inexperienced ; 
sometimes  he  is  sick  or  absent ;  and  some- 
times he  is  too  feeble  in  mind,  or  too  indolent, 
or  too  devoted  to  his  pleasures  to  exercise  any 
governmental  care.  There  has  gradually  grown 
up,  therefore,  in  all  monarchies,  the  custom  of 
having  a  central  board  of  officers  of  state,  whom 
the  king  appoints,  and  who  take  the  general 
direction  of  affairs  off  his  mind,  except  so  far  as 
he  chooses  to  interfere.  This  board,  in  England, 
is  called  the  Privy  Council. 

The  Privy  Council  in  England  is  a  body  of 
great  importance.  Its  nature  and  its  functions 
are,  of  course,  entirely  different  from  those  of 
the  two  houses  of  Parliament.  They  repre- 
sent, or  are  intended  to  represent,  the  nation. 
The  Parliament  is,  in  theory,  the  nation,  as- 
sembled at  the  king's  command,  to  give  him 
their  advice.  The  Privy  Council,  on  the  other 
hand,  represents  the  king.  It  is  the  king's 
Privy  Council.  They  act  in  his  name.  They 
follow  his  directions  when  he  chooses  to  give 
any.  Whatever  they  decide  upon  and  decree, 
the  king  signs— often,  indeed,  without  any  idea 
of  what  it  is ;  but  he  still  signs  it,  and  all  such 
decrees  go  forth  to  the  world  as  the  king's  or- 


86  King    Charles   I.  [1625. 

Constitution  and  functions  of  the  Privy  Council. 

ders  in  council.  The  Privy  Council,  of  course, 
would  have  its  meetings,  its  officers,  its  records, 
its  rules  of  proceeding,  and  its  various  usages, 
and  these  grew,  in  time,  to  be  laws  and  rights  ; 
but  still  it  was,  in  theory,  only  a  sort  of  expan- 
sion of  the  king,  as  if  to  make  a  kind  of  artifi- 
cial being,  with  one  soul,  but  many  heads  and 
hands,  because  no  natural  human  being  could 
possibly  have  capacities  and  powers  extensive 
and  multifarious  enough  for  the  exigencies  of 
reigning.  Charles  thus  had  a  council  who 
went  on  with  every  thing,  except  so  far  as  he 
chose  to  interpose.  The  members  were  gen- 
erally able  and  experienced  men.  And  yet 
Buckingham  was  among  them.  He  had  been 
made  Lord  High  Admiral  of  England,  which 
gave  him  supreme  command  of  the  navy,  and 
admitted  him  to  the  Privy  Council.  These 
were  very  high  honors. 

This  Privy  Council  now  took  the  direction 
of  public  affairs,  attended  to  every  thing,  pro- 
vided for  all  emergencies,  and  kept  all  the  com- 
plicated machinery  of  government  in  motion, 
without  the  necessity  of  the  king's  having  any 
personal  agency  in  the  matter.  The  king 
might  interpose,  more  or  less,  as  he  was  inclin- 
ed; and  when  he  did  interpose,  he  sometimes 


1625.]  Buckingham.  87 

Restrictions  on  the  royal  power.  A  new  Parliament. 

found  obstacles  in  the  way  of  immediately  ac- 
complishing his  plans,  in  the  forms  or  usages 
which  had  gradually  grown  into  laws. 

For  instance,  when  the  king  began  his  reign, 
he  was  very  eager  to  have  the  war  for  the  re- 
covery of  the  Palatinate  go  on  at  once ;  and  he 
was,  besides,  very  much  embarrassed  for  want 
of  money.  He  wished,  therefore,  in  order  to 
save  time,  that  the  old  Parliament  which  King 
James  had  called  should  continue  to  act  under 
his  reign.  But  his  Privy  Council  told  him  that 
that  could  not  be.  That  was  James's  Parlia- 
ment. If  he  wanted  one  for  his  reign,  he  must 
call  upon  the  people  to  elect  a  new  Parliament 
for  him. 

The  new  Parliament  was  called,  and  Charles 
sent  them  a  very  civil  message,  explaining  the 
emergency  which  had  induced  him  to  call  them, 
and  the  reason  why  he  was  so  much  in  want  of 
money.  His  father  had  left  the  government  a 
great  deal  in  debt.  There  had  been  heavy  ex- 
penses connected  with  the  death  of  the  former 
king,  and  with  his  own  accession  and  marriage. 
Then  there  was  the  war.  It  had  been  engaged 
in  by  his  father,  with  the  approbation  of  the 
former  Parliament ;  and  engagements  had  been 
made  with   allies,  which  now  they  could  not 


88  King   Charles   I.  [1625. 

The  new  Parliament  meets  at  Oxford. 

honorably  retract.  He  urged  them,  therefore, 
to  grant,  without  delay,  the  necessary  supplies. 

The  Parliament  met  in  July,  but  the  plague 
was  increasing  in  London,  and  they  had  to  ad- 
journ, early  in  August,  to  Oxford.  This  city 
is  situated  upon  the  Thames,  and  was  then,  as 
it  is  now,  the  seat  of  a  great  many  colleges. 
These  colleges  were  independent  of  each  other 
in  their  internal  management,  though  united 
together  in  one  general  system.  The  name  of 
one  of  them,  which  is  still  very  distinguished, 
was  Christ  Church  College.  They  had,  among 
the  buildings  of  that  college,  a  magnificent  hall, 
more  than  one  hundred  feet  long,  and  very  lofty, 
built  in  a  very  imposing  style.  It  is  still  a 
great  object  of  interest  to  all  who  visit  Oxford. 
This  hall  was  fitted  up  for  the  use  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  the  king  met  the  two  houses  there, 
and  made  a  new  speech  himself,  and  had  others 
made  by  his  ministers,  explaining  the  state  of 
public  affairs,  and  gently  urging  the  houses  to 
act  with  promptness  and  decision. 

The  houses  then  separated,  and  each  com- 
menced its  own  deliberations.  But,  instead  of 
promptly  complying  with  the  king's  proposals, 
they  sent  him  a  petition  for  redress  of  a  long 
list  of  what  they  called  grievances.      These 


1625.]  Buckingham.  89 

Difficulties  commence  between  the  king  and  Parliament. 

grievances  were,  almost  all  of  them,  complaints 
of  the  toleration  and  encouragement  of  the 
Catholics,  through  the  influence  of  the  king's 
Catholic  bride.  She  had  stipulated  to  have  a 
Catholic  chapel,  and  Catholic  attendants,  and, 
after  her  arrival  in  England,  she  and  Bucking- 
ham had  so  much  influence  over  the  king,  that 
they  were  producing  quite  a  change  at  court, 
and  gradually  through  all  ranks  of  society,  in 
favor  of  the  Catholics.  The  Commons  com- 
plained of  a  great  many  things,  nearly  all,  how- 
ever, originating  in  this  cause.  The  king  an- 
swered these  complaints,  clause  by  clause,  prom- 
ising redress  more  or  less  distinctly.  There  is 
not  room  to  give  this  petition  and  the  answers 
in  full,  but  as  all  the  subsequent  troubles  be- 
tween Charles  and  the  people  of  England  arose 
out  of  this  difficulty  of  his  young  wife's  bring- 
ing in  so  strong  a  Catholic  influence  with  her 
to  the  realm,  it  may  be  well  to  give  an  abstract 
of  some  of  the  principal  petitions,  with  the  king's 
answers. 

The  Commons  said 

That  they  had  miderstood  that  popish  priests, 
and  other  Catholics,  were  gradually  creeping  in 
as  teachers  of  the  youth  of  the  realm,  in  the 


90  King    Charles    I.  [1625. 

Demands  of  Parliament,  and  the  king's   answers. 

various  seminaries  of  learning,  and  they  wanted 
to  have  decided  measures  taken  to  examine  all 
candidates  for  such  stations,  with  a  view  to  the 
careful  exclusion  of  all  who  were  not  true  Prot- 
estants. 

King. — Allowed.  And  I  will  send  to  the 
archbishops  and  all  the  authorities  to  see  that 
this  is  done. 


Commons.- — That  more  efficient  arrange- 
ments should  be  made  for  appointing  able  and 
faithful  men  in  the  Church — men  that  will 
really  devote  themselves  to  preaching  the  Gos- 
pel to  the  people,  instead  of  conferring  these 
places  and  salaries  on  favorites ;  sometimes,  as 
has  been  the  case,  several  to  the  same  man. 

The  king  made  some  explanations  in  regard 
to  this  subject,  and  promised  hereafter  to  com- 
ply with  this  requisition. 

Commons. — That  the  laws  against  sending 
children  out  of  the  country  to  foreign  countries 
to  be  educated  in  Catholic  seminaries  should 
be  strictly  enforced,  and  the  practice  be  entire- 
ly broken  up. 

King. — Agreed ;  and  he  would  send  to  the 
lord  admiral,  and  to  all  the  naval  officers  on 


1625.]  Buckingham.  91 

Demands  of  Parliament,  and  the  king's  answers. 

the  coast,  to  watch  very  carefully  and  stop  all 
children  attempting  to  go  abroad  for  such  a 
purpose ;  and  he  would  issue  a  proclamation 
commanding  all  the  noblemen's  children  now 
on  the  Continent  to  return  by  a  given  day. 

Commons. — That  no  Catholic  (or,  as  they 
called  him,  popish  recusant,  that  is,  a  person 
refusing  to  subscribe  to  the  Protestant  faith, 
recusant  meaning  person  refusing)  be  admit- 
ted into  the  king's  service  at  court ;  and  that 
no  English  Catholic  be  admitted  into  the 
queen's  service.  They  could  not  refuse  to  al- 
low her  to  employ  her  own  French  attendants, 
but  to  appoint  English  Catholics  to  the  honor- 
able and  lucrative  offices  at  her  disposal  was 
doing  a  great  injury  to  the  Protestant  cause  in 
the  realm. 

The  king  agreed  to  this,  with  some  condi- 
tions and  evasions. 


Commons. — That  all  Jesuits  and  Catholic 
priests,  owing  allegiance  to  the  See  of  Rome, 
should  be  sent  away  from  the  country,  accord- 
ing to  laws  already  existing,  after  fair  notice 
given  ;  and  if  they  would  not  go,  that  they 
should  be  imprisoned  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be 


92  King    Charles   I.  [1625. 

The  king  and  the  Commons  both  in  the  wrong. 

kept  from  all  communication  with  other  per- 
sons, so  as  not  to  disseminate  their  false  reli- 
gion. 

King. — The  laws  on  this   subject  shall  be 
enforced. 


The  above  are  sufficient  for  a  specimen  of 
these  complaints  and  of  the  king's  answers. 
There  were  many  more  of  them,  but  they  have 
all  the  same  character  and  end,  namely,  to  stop 
the  strong  current  of  Catholic  influence  and  as- 
cendency which  was  setting  in  to  the  court, 
and  through  the  court  into  the  realm,  through 
the  influence  of  the  young  queen  and  the  per- 
sons connected  with  her.  At  the  present  day, 
and  in  this  country,  the  Commons  will  be 
thought  to  be  in  the  wrong,  inasmuch  as  the 
thing  which  they  were  contending  against  was, 
in  the  main,  merely  the  toleration  of  the  Cath- 
olic religion.  But  then  the  king  was  in  the 
wrong  too,  for,  since  the  laws  against  this  tol- 
eration stood  enacted  by  the  consent  and  con- 
currence of  his  predecessors,  he  should  not  have 
allowed  them  to  be  infracted  and  virtually  an- 
nulled through  the  influence  of  a  foreign  bride 
and  an  unworthy  favorite. 

Perhaps  he  felt  that  he  was  wrong,  or  per- 


1625.]  Buckingham.  93 

The  king  promises  every  thing.  His  insincerity. 

haps  his  answers  were  all  framed  for  him  by 
his  Privy  Council.  At  all  events,  they  were 
entirely  favorable  to  the  demands  of  the  Com- 
mons. He  promised  every  thing.  In  many 
things  he  went  even  beyond  their  demands.  It 
is  admitted,  however,  on  all  hands,  that,  so  far 
as  he  himself  had  any  agency  in  making  these 
replies,  he  was  not  really  sincere.  He  himself, 
and  Buckingham,  were  very  eager  to  get  sup- 
plies. Buckingham  was  admiral  of  the  fleet, 
and  had  a  great  desire  to  enlarge  the  force  at 
his  command,  with  a  view  to  the  performing  of 
some  great  exploit  in  the  war.  It  is  under- 
stood, therefore,  that  the  king  intended  his  re- 
plies as  promises  merely.  At  any  rate,  the 
promises  were  made.  The  Commons  were 
called  into  the  great  hall  again,  at  Christ 
Church,  where  the  Peers  assembled,  and  the 
king's  answers  were  read  to  them.  Bucking- 
ham joined  in  this  policy  of  attempting  to  con- 
ciliate the  Commons.  He  went  into  their  as- 
sembly and  made  a  long  speech,  explaining  and 
justifying  his  conduct,  and  apologizing,  in  some 
sense,  for  what  might  seem  to  be  wrong. 

The  Commons  returned  to  their  place  of  de- 
liberation, but  they  were  not  satisfied.  They 
wanted    something   besides   promises.      Some 


94  King    Charles    I.  [1625. 

Commons  not  satisfied.  Parliament  dissolved.  New  one  called. 

were  in  favor  of  granting  supplies  "  in  grati- 
tude to  his  majesty  for  his  gracious  answer." 
Others  thought  differently.  They  did  not  see 
the  necessity  for  raising  money  for  this  foreign 
war.  They  had  greater  enemies  at  home 
(meaning  Buckingham  and  popery)  than  they 
had  abroad.  Besides,  if  the  king  would  stop 
his  waste  and  extravagance  in  bestowing  hon- 
ors and  rewards,  there  would  be  money  enough 
for  all  necessary  uses.  In  a  word,  there  was 
much  debate,  but  nothing  done.  The  king, 
after  a  short  time,  sent  a  message  to  them  urg- 
ing them  to  come  to  a  decision.  They  sent 
him  back  a  declaration  which  showed  that  they 
did  not  intend  to  yield.  Their  language,  how- 
ever, was  of  the  most  humble  character.  They 
called  him  "  their  dread  sovereign,"  and  them- 
selves "  his  poor  commons."  The  king  was 
displeased  with  them,  and  dissolved  the  Parlia- 
ment. They,  of  course,  immediately  became 
private  citizens,  and  dispersed  to  their  homes. 

After  trying  some  ineffectual  attempts  to  raise 
money  by  his  own  royal  prerogatives  and  pow- 
ers, the  king  called  a  new  Parliament,  taking 
some  curious  precautions  to  keep  out  of  it  such 
persons  as  he  thought  would  oppose  his  plans. 
The  Earl  of  Bristol,  whom  Buckingham  had 


1628.]  Buckingham.  95 

Subterfuges  of  the  king.  Parliament  again  dissolved. 

been  so  jealous  of,  considering  him  as  his  rival, 
was  an  influential  member  of  the  House  of 
Peers.  Charles  and  Buckingham  agreed  to 
omit  him  in  sending  out  the  royal  writs  to 
summon  the  peers.  He  petitioned  Parliament, 
claiming  a  right  to  his  seat.  Charles  then  sent 
him  his  writ,  but  gave  him  a  command,  as  his 
sovereign,  not  to  attend  the  session.  He  also 
selected  four  of  the  prominent  men  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  men  whom  he  considered  most 
influential  in  opposition  to  him  and  to  Buck- 
ingham, and  appointed  them  to  offices  which 
would  call  them  away  from  London ;  and  as  it 
was  the  understanding  in  those  days  that  the 
sovereign  had  a  right  to  command  the  services 
of  his  subjects,  they  were  obliged  to  go.  The 
king  hoped,  by  these  and  similar  means,  to  di- 
minish the  influence  against  him  in  Parliament, 
and  to  get  a  majority  in  his  favor.  But  his 
plans  did  not  succeed.  Such  measures  only 
irritated  the  House  and  the  country.  After 
another  struggle,  this  Parliament  was  dissolv- 
ed too. 

Things  went  on  so  for  four  or  five  years,  the 
breach  between  the  king  and  the  people  grow- 
ing wider  and  wider.  Within  this  time  there 
were  four  Parliaments  called,  and,  after  various 


96  King  Charles  I.  [1628. 

The  breach  between  the  king  and  the  Parliament  widens. 

contentions  with  them,  they  were,  one  after  an- 
other, dissolved.  The  original  subject  of  dis- 
agreement, viz.,  the  growing  influence  of  the 
Catholics,  was  not  the  only  one.  Other  points 
came  up,  growing  out  of  the  king's  use  of  his  pre- 
rogative, and  his  irregular  and,  as  they  thought, 
illegal  attempts  to  interfere  with  their  freedom 
of  action.  The  king,  or,  rather,  Buckingham 
using  the  king's  name,  resorted  to  all  sorts  of 
contrivances  .  to  accomplish  this  object.  For 
instance,  it  had  long  been  the  custom,  in  case 
any  member  of  the  House  of  Peers  was  absent, 
for  him  to  give  authority  to  any  friend  of  his, 
who  was  also  a  member,  to  vote  for  him.  This 
authority  was  called  a  proxy.  This  word  is 
supposed  to  be  derived  from  procuracy,  which 
means  action  in  the  place  of,  and  in  behalf  of, 
another.  Buckingham  induced  a  great  num- 
ber of  the  peers  to  give  him  their  proxies.  He 
did  this  by  rewards,  honors,  and  various  other 
influences,  and  he  found  so  many  willing  to 
yield  to  these  inducements,  that  at  one  time  he 
had  thirty  or  forty  proxies  in  his  hands.  Thus, 
on  a  question  arising  in  the  House  of  Lords,  he 
could  give  a  very  large  majority  of  votes.  The 
House,  after  murmuring  for  some  time,  and  ex- 
pressing much  discontent  and  vexation  at  this 


1628.]  Buckingham.  97 

Impeachment  of  Buckingham.  The  king  interferes. 

state  of  things,  finally  made  a  law  that  no  mem- 
ber of  the  House  should  ever  have  power  to  use 
more  than  two  proxies. 

One  of  the  Parliaments  which  King  Charles 
assembled  at  length  brought  articles  of  impeach- 
ment against  Buckingham,  and  a  long  contest 
arose  on  this  subject.  An  impeachment  is  a 
trial  of  a  high  officer  of  state  for  maladministra- 
tion of  his  office.  All  sorts  of  charges  were 
brought  against  Buckingham,  most  of  which 
were  true.  The  king  considered  their  inter- 
fering to  call  one  of  his  ministers  to  account  as 
wholly  intolerable.  He  sent  them  orders  to  dis- 
miss that  subject  from  their  deliberations,  and 
to  proceed  immediately  with  their  work  of  lay- 
ing taxes  to  raise  money,  or  he  would  dissolve 
the  Parliament  as  he  had  done  before.  He  re- 
minded them  that  the  Parliaments  were  entirely 
"  in  his  power  for  their  calling,  sitting,  and  dis- 
solution, and  as  he  found  their  fruits  were  for 
good  or  evil,  so  they  were  to  continue,  or  not  to 
be."  If  they  would  mend  their  errors  and  do 
their  duty,  henceforward  he  would  forgive  the 
past ;  otherwise  they  were  to  expect  his  irrec- 
oncilable hostility. 

This  language  irritated  instead  of  alarming 
them.  The  Commons  persisted  in  their  plan 
7 


98  King   Charles   I.  [1628. 

Another  dissolution.  Buckingham's  reckless  conduct. 

of  impeachment.  The  king  arrested  the  men 
whom  they  appointed  as  managers  of  the  im- 
peachment, and  imprisoned  them.  The  Com- 
mons remonstrated,  and  insisted  that  Bucking- 
ham should  be  dismissed  from  the  king's  serv- 
ice. The  king,  instead  of  dismissing  him,  took 
measures  to  have  him  appointed,  in  addition  to 
all  his  other  offices,  Chancellor  of  the  University 
of  Cambridge,  a  very  exalted  station.  Parlia- 
ment remonstrated.  The  king,  in  retaliation, 
dissolved  the  Parliament. 

Thus  things  went  on  from  bad  to  worse,  and 
from  worse  to  worse  again ;  the  chief  cause  of 
the  difficulties,  in  almost  all  cases,  being  trace- 
able to  Buckingham's  reckless  and  arbitrary 
conduct.  He  was  continually  doing  something 
in  the  pursuit  of  his  own  ends,  by  the  rash  and 
heedless  exercise  of  the  vast  powers  committed 
to  him,  to  make  extensive  and  irreparable  mis- 
chief. At  one  time  he  ordered  a  part  of  the 
fleet  over  to  the  coast  of  France,  to  enter  the 
French  service,  the  sailors  expecting  that  they 
were  to  be  employed  against  the  Spaniards. 
They  found,  however,  that,  instead  of  going 
against  the  Spaniards,  they  were  to  be  sent  to 
Rochelle.  Rochelle  was  a  town  in  France  in 
possession  of  the  Protestants,  and  the  King  of 


1628.]  Buckingham.  99 

The  Round  Robin.  Return  of  the  English  fleet. 

France  wanted  to  subdue  them.  The  sailors 
sent  a  remonstrance  to  their  commander,  beg- 
ging not  to  be  forced  to  fight  against  their 
brother  Protestants.  This  remonstrance  was, 
in  form,  what  is  called  a  Round  Robin. 

In  a  Round  Robin  a  circle  is  drawn,  the  pe- 
tition or  remonstrance  is  written  within  it,  and 
the  names  are  written  all  around  it,  to  prevent 
any  one's  having  to  take  the  responsibility  of 
being  the  first  signer.  When  the  commander 
of  the  fleet  received  the  Round  Robin,  instead 
of  being  offended,  he  inquired  into  the  facts, 
and  finding  that  the  case  was  really  as  the 
Round  Robin  represented  it,  he  broke  away 
from  the  French  command  and  returned  to  En- 
gland. He  said  he  would  rather  be  hanged  in 
England  for  disobeying  orders  than  to  fight 
against  the  Protestants  of  France. 

Buckingham  might  have  known  that  such  a 
spirit  as  this  in  Englishmen  was  not  to  be  tri- 
fled with.  But  he  knew  nothing,  and  thought 
of  nothing,  except  that  he  wanted  to  please  and 
gratify  the  French  government.  When  the 
fleet,  therefore,  arrived  in  England,  he  peremp- 
torily ordered  it  back,  and  he  resorted  to  all 
sorts  of  pretexts  and  misrepresentations  of  the 
facts  to  persuade  the  officers  and  men  that  they 


100  King    Charles    I.  [1628. 

The  officers  and  men  desert.  Expedition  to  Spain. 

were  not  to  be  employed  against  the  Protest- 
ants. The  fleet  accordingly  went  back,  and 
when  they  arrived,  they  found  that  Bucking- 
ham had  deceived  them.  They  were  ordered 
to  Rochelle.  One  of  the  ships  broke  away  and 
returned  to  England.  The  officers  and  men 
deserted  from  the  other  ships  and  got  home. 
The  whole  armament  was  disorganized,  and  the 
English  people,  who  took  sides  with  the  sailors, 
were  extremely  exasperated  against  Bucking- 
ham for  his  blind  and  blundering  recklessness, 
and  against  the  king  for  giving  such  a  man  the 
power  to  do  his  mischief  on  such  an  extensive 
scale. 

At  another  time  the  duke  and  the  king  con- 
trived to  fit  out  a  fleet  of  eighty  sail  to  make  a 
descent  upon  the  coast  of  Spain.  It  caused 
them  great  trouble  to  get  the  funds  for  this  ex- 
pedition, as  they  had  to  collect  them,  in  a  great 
measure,  by  various  methods  depending  on  the 
king's  prerogative,  and  not  by  authority  of  Par- 
liament. Thus  the  whole  country  were  dis- 
satisfied and  discontented  in  respect  to  the  fleet 
before  it  was  ready  to  sail.  Then,  as  if  this 
was  not  enough,  Buckingham  overlooked  all  the 
officers  in  the  navy  in  selecting  a  commander, 
and  put  an  officer  of  the  army  in  charge  of  it ; 


1628.]  Buckingham.  101 

Buckingham's  egregious  folly.  The  expedition  ends  in  disaster. 

a  man  whose  whole  experience  had  been  ac- 
quired in  wars  on  the  land.  The  country 
thought  that  Buckingham  ought  to  have  taken 
the  command  himself,  as  lord  high  admiral ; 
and  if  not,  that  he  ought  to  have  selected  his 
commander  from  the  ranks  of  the  service  em- 
ployed. Thus  the  fleet  set  off  on  the  expedi- 
tion, all  on  board  burning  with  indignation 
against  the  arbitrary  and  absurd  management 
of  the  favorite.  The  result  of  the  expedition 
was  also  extremely  disastrous.  They  had  an 
excellent  opportunity  to  attack  a  number  of 
ships,  which  would  have  made  a  very  rich  prize ; 
but  the  soldier-commander  either  did  not  know, 
or  did  not  dare  to  do,  his  duty.  He  finally, 
however,  effected  a  landing,  and  took  a  castle, 
but  the  sailors  found  a  great  store  of  wine  there, 
and  went  to  drinking  and  carousing,  breaking 
through  all  discipline.  The  commander  had  to 
get  them  on  board  again  immediately,  and  come 
away.  Then  he  conceived  the  plan  of  going  to 
intercept  what  were  called  the  Spanish  galleons, 
which  were  ships  employed  to  bring  home  sil- 
ver from  the  mines  in  America,  which  the  Span- 
iards then  possessed.  On  further  thoughts  he 
concluded  to  give  up  this  idea,  on  account  of 
the  plague,  which,  as  he  said,  broke  out  in  his 


102  King    Charles    1.  [1628. 

Buckingham's  quarrel  with  Richelieu.  He  resolves  on  war. 

ships.  So  he  came  back  to  England  with  his 
fleet  disorganized,  demoralized,  and  crippled, 
and  covered  with  military  disgrace.  The  peo- 
ple of  England  charged  all  this  to  Buckingham. 
Still  the  king  persisted  in  retaining  him.  It 
was  his  prerogative  to  do  so. 

After  a  while  Buckingham  got  into  a  per- 
sonal quarrel  with  Richelieu,  who  was  the  lead- 
ing manager  of  the  French  government,  and  he 
resolved  that  England  should  make  war  upon 
France.  To  alter  the  whole  political  position 
of  such  an  empire  as  that  of  Great  Britain,  in 
respect  to  peace  and  war,  and  to  change  such  a 
nation  as  France  from  a  friend  to  an  enemy, 
would  seem  to  be  quite  an  undertaking  for  a 
single  man  to  attempt,  and  that,  too,  without 
having  any  reason  whatever  to  assign,  except  a 
personal  quarrel  with  a  minister  about  a  love  af- 
fair. But  so  it  was.  Buckingham  undertook 
it.  It  was  the  king's  prerogative  to  make  peace 
or  war,  and  Buckingham  ruled  the  king. 

He  contrived  various  ways  of  fomenting  ill 
will.  One  was,  to  alienate  the  mind  of  the  king 
from  the  queen.  He  represented  to  him  that 
the  queen's  French  servants  were  getting  to  be 
very  disrespectful  and  insolent  in  their  treat- 
ment  of  him,   and  finally  persuaded  him   to 


1628.]  Buckingham.  103 

The  French  servants  dismissed.  War  declared  against  France. 

send  them  all  home.  So  the  king  went  one 
day  to  Somerset  House,  which  was  the  queen's 
residence — for  it  is  often  the  custom  in  high 
life  in  Europe  for  the  husband  and  wife  to 
have  separate  establishments — and  requested 
her  to  summon  her  French  servants  into  his 
presence,  and  when  they  were  assembled,  he 
told  them  that  he  had  concluded  to  send  them 
all  home  to  France.  Some  of  them,  he  said, 
had  acted  properly  enough,  but  others  had  been 
rude  and  forward,  and  that  he  had  concluded  it 
best  to  send  them  all  home.  The  French  king, 
on  hearing  of  this,  seized  a  hundred  and  twenty 
English  ships  lying  in  his  harbors  in  retaliation 
of  this  act,  which  he  said  was  a  palpable  viola- 
tion of  the  marriage  contract,  as  it  certainly 
was.  Upon  this  the  king  declared  war  against 
France.  He  did  not  ask  Parliament  to  act  in 
this  case  at  all.  There  was  no  Parliament. 
Parliament  had  been  dissolved  in  a  fit  of  dis- 
pleasure. The  whole  affair  was  an  exercise  of 
the  royal  prerogative.  He  did  not  dare  to  call 
a  Parliament  to  provide  means  for  carrying  on 
the  war,  but  set  his  Privy  Council  to  devise 
modes  of  doing  it,  through  this  same  preroga- 
tive. 

The  attempts  to  raise  money  in  these  ways 


104  King   Charles   I.  [1628. 

Expedition  to  France  abortive.  Another  projected. 

made  great  trouble.  The  people  resisted,  and 
interposed  all  possible  difficulties.  However, 
some  funds  were  raised,  and  a  fleet  of  a  hun- 
dred sail,  and  an  army  of  seven  thousand  men, 
were  got  together.  Buckingham  undertook  the 
command  of  this  expedition  himself,  as  there 
had  been  so  much  dissatisfaction  with  his  ap- 
pointment of  a  commander  to  the  other.  It 
resulted  just  as  was  to  be  expected  in  the  case 
of  seven  thousand  men,  and  a  hundred  ships, 
afloat  on  the  swelling  surges  of  the  English 
Channel,  under  the  command  of  vanity,  reck- 
lessness, and  folly.  The  duke  came  back  to 
England  in  three  months,  bringing  home  one 
third  of  his  force.  The  rest  had  been  lost,  with- 
out accomplishing  any  thing.  The  measure  of 
public  indignation  against  Buckingham  was 
now  full. 

Buckingham  himself  walked  as  loftily  and 
proudly  as  ever.  He  got  up  another  fleet,  and 
was  preparing  to  set  sail  in  it  himself,  as  com- 
mander again.  He  went  to  Portsmouth,  ac- 
cordingly, for  this  purpose,  Portsmouth  being 
the  great  naval  station  then,  as  now,  on  the 
southern  coast  of  England.  Here  a  man  named 
Felton,  who  had  been  an  officer  under  the  duke 
in  the  former  expedition,  and  who  had  been  ex- 


1628.]  Buckingham.  105 

Assassination  of  Buckingham.  The  king  not  sorry 

tremely  exasperated  against  him  on  account  of 
some  of  his  management  there,  and  who  had 
since  found  how  universal  was  the  detestation 
of  him  in  England,  resolved  to  rid  the  country 
of  such  a  curse  at  once.  He  accordingly  took 
his  station  in  the  passage-way  of  the  house 
where  Buckingham  was,  armed  with  a  knife. 
Buckingham  came  out,  talking  with  some 
Frenchmen  in  an  angry  manner,  having  had 
some  dispute  with  them,  and  Felton  thrust  the 
knife  into  his  side  as  he  passed,  and,  leaving  it 
in  the  wound,  walked  away,  no  one  having 
noticed  who  did  the  deed.  Buckingham  pulled 
out  the  knife,  fell  down,  and  died.  The  by- 
standers were  going  to  seize  one  of  the  French- 
men, when  Felton  advanced  and  said,  "I  am 
the  man  who  did  the  deed ;  let  no  man  suffer 
that  is  innocent."  He  was  taken.  They  found 
a  paper  in  his  hat,  saying  that  he  was  going  to 
destroy  the  duke,  and  that  he  could  not  sacri- 
fice his  life  in  a  nobler  cause  than  by  delivering 
his  country  from  so  great  an  enemy. 

King  Charles  was  four  miles  off  at  this  time. 
They  carried  him  the  news.  He  did  not  ap- 
pear at;  all  concerned  or  troubled,  but  only  di- 
rected that  the  murderer — he  ought  to  have 
said,  perhaps,  the  executioner — should  be  secur- 


106  King    Charles    I.  [1628. 

Buckingham's  monument  the  universal  execration  of  his  countrymen. 

ed,  and  that  the  fleet  should  proceed  to  sail. 
He  also  ordered  the  treasurer  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  a  splendid  funeral. 

The  treasurer  said,  in  reply,  that  a  funeral 
would  only  be  a  temporary  show,  and  that  he 
could  hereafter  erect  a  monument  at  half  the 
cost,  which  would  be  a  much  more  lasting  me- 
morial. Charles  acceded.  Afterward,  when 
Charles  spoke  to  him  about  the  monument,  the 
treasurer  replied,  What  would  the  world  say  if 
your  majesty  were  to  build  a  monument  to  the 
duke  before  you  erect  one  for  your  father  ?  So 
the  plan  was  abandoned,  and  Buckingham  had 
no  other  monument  than  the  universal  detesta- 
tion of  his  countrymen. 


1628.]  The    King's    Prerogative.      107 

Difficulty  in  raising  funds.  The  king's  resources. 


Chapter    V. 

The    King    and   his    Prerogative. 

FT1HE  great  difficulty  in  governing  without 
-*-  a  Parliament  was  how  to  raise  funds.  By 
the  old  customs  and  laws  of  the  realm,  a  tax 
upon  the  people  could  only  be  levied  by  the  ac- 
tion of  the  House  of  Commons  ;  and  the  great 
object  of  the  king  and  council  during  Bucking- 
ham's life,  in  summoning  Parliaments  from 
time  to  time,  was  to  get  their  aid  in  this  point. 
But  as  Charles  found  that  one  Parliament  after 
another  withheld  the  grants,  and  spent  their 
time  in  complaining  of  his  government,  he 
would  dissolve  them,  successively,  after  ex- 
hausting all  possible  means  of  bringing  them  to 
a  compliance  with  his  will.  He  would  then  be 
thrown  upon  his  own  resources. 

The  king  had  some  resources  of  his  own. 
These  were  certain  estates,  and  lands,  and 
other  property,  in  various  parts  of  the  country, 
which  belonged  to  the  crown,  the  income  of 
which  the  king  could  appropriate.  But  the 
amount  which  could  be  derived  from  this  source 


108  King    Charles    I.  [1628. 

Modes  of  raising  money.  Parliaments  abandoned. 

was  very  small.  Then  there  were  certain  other 
modes  of  raising  money,  which  had  been  resort- 
ed to  by  former  monarchs,  in  emergencies,  at 
distant  intervals,  but  still  in  instances  so  nu- 
merous that  the  king  considered  precedents 
enough  had  been  established  to  make  the  pow- 
er to  resort  to  these  modes  a  part  of  the  prerog- 
ative of  the  crown.  The  people,  however,  con- 
sidered these  acts  of  former  monarchs  as  irreg- 
ularities or  usurpations.  They  denied  the 
king's  right  to  resort  to  these  methods,  and 
they  threw  so  many  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
the  execution  of  his  plans,  that  finally  he  would 
call  another  Parliament,  and  make  new  efforts 
to  lead  them  to  conform  to  his  will.  The  more 
the  experiment  was  tried,  however,  the  worse 
it  succeeded ;  and  at  last  the  king  determined 
to  give  up  the  idea  of  Parliaments  altogether, 
and  to  compel  the  people  to  submit  to  his  plans 
of  raising  money  without  them. 

The  final  dissolution  of  Parliament,  by  which 
Charles  entered  upon  his  new  plan  of  govern- 
ment, was  attended  with  some  resistance,  and 
the  affair  made  great  difficulty.  It  seems  that 
one  of  the  members,  a  certain  Mr.  Rolls,  had 
had  some  of  his  goods  seized  for  payment  of 
some  of  the  king's  irregular  taxes,  which  he 


1628.]  The    King's    Prerogative.      109 

The  government  attaches  the  property  of  a  member  of  Parliament. 

had  refused  to  pay  willingly.  Now  it  had  al- 
ways been  considered  the  law  of  the  land  in 
England,  that  the  person  and  the  property  of  a 
member  of  Parliament  were  sacred  during  the 
session,  on  the  ground  that  while  he  was  giving 
his  attendance  at  a  council  meeting  called  by 
his  sovereign,  he  ought  to  be  protected  from 
molestation  on  the  part  either  of  his  fellow-sub- 
jects or  his  sovereign,  in  his  person  and  in  his 
property.  The  House  of  Commons  considered, 
therefore,  the  seizure  of  the  goods  of  one  of  the 
members  of  the  body  as  a  breach  of  their  priv- 
ilege, and  took  up  the  subject  with  a  view  to 
punish  the  officers  who  acted.  The  king  sent 
a  message  immediately  to  the  House,  while 
they  were  debating  the  subject,  saying  that  the 
officer  acted,  in  seizing  the  goods,  in  obedience 
to  his  own  direct  command.  This  produced 
great  excitement  and  long  debates.  The  king, 
by  taking  the  responsibility  of  the  seizure  upon 
himself,  seemed  to  bid  the  House  defiance. 
They  brought  up  this  question :  "  Whether  the 
seizing  of  Mr.  Rolls's  goods  was  not  a  breach 
of  privilege  ?"  When  the  time  came  for  a  de- 
cision, the  speaker,  that  is,  the  presiding  officer, 
refused  to  put  the  question  to  vote.  He  said 
he  had  been  commanded  by  the  king  not  to  do 


110  King    Charles    I.  [1628 


Confusion  in  the  House  of  Commons. 


it !  The  House  were  indignant,  and  immedi- 
ately adjourned  for  two  days,  probably  for  the 
purpose  of  considering,  and  perhaps  consulting 
their  constituents  on  what  they  were  to  do  in  so 
extraordinary  an  emergency  as  the  king's  com- 
ing into  their  own  body  and  interfering  with  the 
functions  of  one  of  their  own  proper  officers. 

They  met  on  the  day  to  which  they  had  ad- 
journed, prepared  to  insist  on  the  speaker's 
putting  the  question.  But  he,  immediately  on 
the  House  coming  to  order,  said  that  he  had  re- 
ceived the  king's  command  to  adjourn  the 
House  for  a  week,  and  to  put  no  question  what- 
ever. He  then  was  going  to  leave  the  chair, 
but  two  of  the  members  advanced  to  him  and 
held  him  in  his  place,  while  they  read  some  res- 
olutions which  had  been  prepared.  There  was 
great  confusion  and  clamor.  Some  insisted  that 
the  House  was  adjourned,  some  were  determ- 
ined to  pass  the  resolutions.  The  resolutions 
were  very  decided.  They  declared  that  who- 
ever should  counsel  or  advise  the  laying  of  tax- 
es not  granted  by  Parliament,  or  be  an  actor  or 
instrument  in  collecting  them,  should  be  ac- 
counted an  innovator,  and  a  capital  enemy  to 
the  kingdom  and  Commonwealth.  And  also, 
that  if  any  person  whatever  should  voluntarily 


1628.]  The    King's    Prerogative.      Ill 

The  Commons  refuse  to  admit  the  king's  officers.     Members  imprisoned. 

pay  such  taxes,  he  should  be  counted  a  capital 
enemy  also.  These  resolutions  were  read  in 
the  midst  of  great  uproar.  The  king  was  in- 
formed of  the  facts,  and  sent  for  the  sergeant 
of  the  House — one  of  the  highest  officers — but 
the  members  locked  the  door,  and  would  not 
let  the  sergeant  go.  Then  the  king  sent  one 
of  his  own  officers  to  the  House  with  a  mes- 
sage. The  members  kept  the  door  locked,  and 
would  not  let  him  in  until  they  had  disposed  of 
the  resolutions.  Then  the  House  adjourned  for 
a  week. 

The  next  day,  several  of  the  leading  members 
who  were  supposed  to  have  been  active  in  these 
proceedings  were  summoned  to  appear  before 
the  council.  They  refused  to  answer  out  of 
Parliament  for  what  was  said  and  done  by 
them  in  Parliament.  The  council  sent  them 
to  prison  in  the  Tower. 

The  week  passed  away,  and  the  time  for  the 
reassembling  of  the  Houses  arrived.  It  had 
been  known,  during  the  week,  that  the  king 
had  determined  on  dissolving  Parliament.  It 
is  usual,  in  dissolving  a  Parliament,  for  the  sov- 
ereign not  to  appear  in  person,  but  to  send  his 
message  of  dissolution  by  some  person  commis- 
sioned to  deliver  it.      This  is  called  dissolving 


112  King    Charles    I.  [1628. 

Dissolution  of  Parliament.  The  king  in  the  House  of  Lords. 

the  House  by  commission.  The  dissolution  is 
always  declared  in  the  House  of  Lords,  the 
Commons  being  summoned  to  attend.  In  this 
case,  however,  the  king  attended  in  person. 
He  was  dressed  magnificently  in  his  royal 
robes,  and  wore  his  crown.  He  would  not 
deign,  however,  to  send  for  the  Commons.  He 
entered  the  House  of  Peers,  and  took  his  seat 
upon  the  throne.  Several  of  the  Commons, 
however,  came  in  of  their  own  accord,  and  stood 
below  the  bar,  at  the  usual  place  assigned  them. 
The  king  then  rose  and  read  the  following 
speech.  The  antiquity  of  the  language  gives 
it  an  air  of  quaintness  now  which  it  did  not 
possess  then. 

"  My  Lords, — I  never  came  here  upon  so  un- 
pleasant an  occasion,  it  being  the  Dissolution  of 
a  Parliament.  Therefore  Men  may  have  some 
cause  to  wonder  why  I  should  not  rather  chuse 
to  do  this  by  Commission,  it  being  a  general 
Maxim  of  Kings  to  leave  harsh  Commands  to 
their  Ministers,  Themselves  only  executing 
pleasing  things.  Yet  considering  that  Justice 
as  well  consists  in  Reward  and  Praise  of  Vir- 
tue as  Punishing  of  Vice,  I  thought  it  neces- 
sary to  come  here  to-day,  and  to  declare  to  you 


1628.]  The    King's    Prerogative.      113 

The  king's  speech  on  dissolving  Parliament. 

and  all  the  World,  that  it  was  merely  the  un- 
dutiful  and  seditious  Carriage  in  the  Lower 
House  that  hath  made  the  Dissolution  of  this 
Parliament.  And  you,  my  Lords,  are  so  far 
from  being  any  Causers  of  it,  that  I  take  as 
much  comfort  in  your  dutiful  Demeanour,  as 
I  am  justly  distasted  with  their  Proceedings. 
Yet,  to  avoid  their  Mistakings,  let  me  tell  you, 
that  it  is  so  far  from  me  to  adjudge  all  the 
House  alike  guilty,  that  I  know  there  are  many 
there  as  dutiful  subjects  as  any  in  the  World ; 
it  being  but  some  few  Vipers  among  them  that 
did  cast  this  Mist  of  Undutifulness  over  most 
of  their  Eyes.  Yet  to  say  Truth,  there  was  a 
good  Number  there  that  could  not  be  infected 
with  this  Contagion. 

"  To  conclude,  As  those  Vipers  must  look 
for  their  Reward  of  Punishment,  so  you,  my 
Lords,  may  justly  expect  from  me  that  Favor 
and  Protection  that  a  good  King  oweth  to  his 
loving  and  faithful  Nobility.  And  now,  my 
Lord  Keeper,  do  what  I  have  commanded  you." 

Then  the  lord  keeper  pronounced  the  Par- 
liament dissolved.  The  lord  keeper  was  the 
keeper  of  the  great  seal,  one  of  the  highest  offi- 
cers of  the  crown. 

Q 


114  King   Charles   I.  [1628. 

The  king  resolves  to  do  without  Parliaments.  Forced  loans. 

Of  course  this  affair  produced  a  fever  of  ex- 
citement against  the  king  throughout  the  whole 
realm.  This  excitement  was  kept  up  and  in- 
creased by  the  trials  of  the  members  of  Parlia- 
ment who  had  been  imprisoned.  The  courts 
decided  against  them,  and  they  were  sentenced 
to  long  imprisonment  and  to  heavy  fines.  The 
king  now  determined  to  do  without  Parliaments 
entirely  ;  and,  of  course,  he  had  to  raise  money 
by  his  royal  prerogative  altogether,  as  he  had 
done,  in  fact,  before,  a  great  deal,  during  the 
intervals  between  the  successive  Parliaments. 
It  will  not  be  very  entertaining,  but  it  will  be 
very  useful  to  the  reader  to  peruse  carefully 
some  account  of  the  principal  methods  resorted, 
to  by  the  king.  In  order,  however,  to  diminish 
the  necessity  for  money  as  much  as  possible, 
the  king  prepared  to  make  peace  with  France 
and  Spain  ;  and  as  they,  as  well  as  England, 
were  exhausted  with  the  wars,  this  was  readily 
effected. 

One  of  the  resorts  adopted  by  the  king  was 
to  a  system  of  loans,  as  they  were  called, 
though  these  loans  differed  from  those  made  by 
governments  at  the  present  day,  in  being  appor- 
tioned upon  the  whole  community  according  to 
their  liability  to  taxation,  and  in  being  made, 


1630.]  The    King's    Prerogative.      115 

Monopolies  of  the  necessaries  of  life. 

in  some  respects,  compulsory.  The  loan  was 
not  to  be  absolutely  collected  by  force,  but  all 
were  expected  to  lend,  and  if  any  refused,  they 
were  to  be  required  to  make  oath  that  they 
would  not  tell  any  body  else  that  they  had  re- 
fused, in  order  that  the  influence  of  their  ex- 
ample might  not  operate  upon  others.  Those 
who  did  refuse  were  to  be  reported  to  the  gov- 
ernment. The  officers  appointed  to  collect 
these  loans  were  charged  not  to  make  unneces- 
sary difficulty,  but  to  do  all  in  their  power  to 
induce  the  people  to  contribute  freely  and  will- 
ingly. This  plan  had  been  before  adopted,  in 
the  time  of  Buckingham,  but  it  met  with  little 
success. 

Another  plan  which  was  resorted  to  was  the 
granting  of  what  was  called  monopolies  :  that 
is,  the  government  would  select  some  import- 
ant and  necessary  articles  in  general  use,  and 
give  the  exclusive  right  of  manufacturing  them 
to  certain  persons,  on  their  paying  a  part  of  the 
profits  to  the  government.  Soap  was  one  of 
the  articles  thus  chosen.  The  exclusive  right 
to  manufacture  it  was  given  to  a  company,  on 
their  paying  for  it.  So  with  leather,  salt,  and 
various  other  things.  These  persons,  when 
they  once  possessed  the  exclusive  right  to  man- 


116  King    Charles   I.  [1630. 

Tonnage  and  poundage. 

ufacture  an  article  which  the  people  must  use, 
would  abuse  their  power  by  deteriorating  the 
article,  or  charging  enormous  prices.  Nothing 
prevented  their  doing  this,  as  they  had  no  com- 
petition. The  effect  was,  that  the  people  were 
injured  much  more  than  the  government  was 
benefited.  The  plan  of  granting  such  monopo- 
lies by  governments  is  now  universally  odious. 
Another  method  of  taxation  was  what  was 
called  tonnage  and  poundage.  This  was  an 
ancient  tax,  assessed  on  merchandise  brought 
into  the  country  in  ships,  like  the  duties  now 
collected  at  our  custom-houses.  It  was  called 
tonnage  and  poundage  because  the  merchan- 
dise on  which  it  was  assessed  was  reckoned  by 
weight,  viz.,  the  ton  and  the  pound.  A  former 
king,  Edward  III.,  first  assessed  it  to  raise 
money  to  suppress  piracy  on  the  seas.  He  said 
it  was  reasonable  that  the  merchandise  protect- 
ed should  pay  the  expense  of  the  protection, 
and  in  proper  proportion.  The  Parliament  in 
that  day  opposed  this  tax.  They  did  not  ob- 
ject to  the  tax  itself,  but  to  the  king's  assessing 
it  by  his  own  authority.  However,  they  grant- 
ed it  themselves  afterward,  and  it  was  regu- 
larly collected.  Subsequent  Parliaments  had 
granted  it,  and  generally  made  the  law,  once 


1630.]  The    King's   Prerogative.      117 

Ship  money.  Origin  of  these  taxes. 

for  all,  to  continue  in  force  during  the  life  of 
the  monarch.  When  Charles  commenced  his 
reign,  the  Peers  were  for  renewing  the  law  as 
usual,  to  continue  throughout  his  reign.  The 
Commons  wanted  to  enact  the  law  only  for  a 
year  at  a  time,  so  as  to  keep  the  power  in  their 
own  hands.  The  two  houses  thus  disagreed, 
and  nothing  was  done.  The  king  then  went 
on  to  collect  the  tax  without  any  authority  ex- 
cept his  own  prerogative. 

Another  mode  of  levying  money  adopted  by 
the  king  was  what  was  called  ship  money. 
This  was  a  plan  for  raising  a  navy  by  making 
every  town  contribute  a  certain  number  of 
ships,  or  the  money  necessary  to  build  them 
It  originated  in  ancient  limes,  and  was  at  first 
confined  to  seaport  towns  which  had  ships. 
These  towns  were  required  to  furnish  them  for 
the  king's  service,  sometimes  to  be  paid  for  by 
the  king,  at  other  times  by  the  country,  and  at 
other  times  not  to  be  paid  for  at  all.  Charles 
revived  this  plan,  extending  it  to  the  whole 
country ;  a  tax  was  assessed  on  all  the  towns, 
each  one  being  required  to  furnish  money 
enough  for  a  certain  number  of  ships.  The 
number  at  one  time  required  of  the  city  of  Lon- 
don was  twentv. 


118  King   Charles   I.  [1636. 

John  Hampden.  He  refuses  to  pay  ship  money. 

There  was  one  man  who  made  his  name 
very  celebrated  then,  and  it  has  continued  very- 
celebrated  since,  by  his  refusal  to  pay  his  ship 
money,  and  by  his  long  and  determined  contest 
with  the  government  in  regard  to  it,  in  the 
courts.  His  name  was  John  Hampden.  He 
was  a  man  of  fortune  and  high  character.  His 
tax  for  ship  money  was  only  twenty  shillings, 
but  he  declared  that  he  would  not  pay  it  with- 
out a  trial.  The  king  had  previously  obtained 
the  opinion  of  the  judges  that  he  had  a  right,  in 
case  of  necessity,  to  assess  and  collect  the  ship 
money,  and  Hampden  knew,  therefore,  that  the 
decision  would  certainly,  in  the  end,  be  against 
him.  He  knew,  however,  that  the  attention  of 
the  whole  country  would  be  attracted  to  the 
trial,  and  that  the  arguments  which  he  should 
offer  to  prove  that  the  act  of  collecting  such  a 
tax  on  the  part  of  the  king's  government  was 
illegal  and  tyrannical,  would  be  spread  before 
the  country,  and  would  make  a  great  impres- 
sion, although  they  certainly  would  not  alter 
the  opinion  of  the  judges,  who,  holding  their 
offices  by  the  king's  appointment,  were  strong- 
ly inclined  to  take  his  side. 

It  resulted  as  Hampden  had  foreseen.  The 
trial  attracted  universal  attention.     It  was  a 


1636.]  The    King's    Prerogative.      119 

Hampden's  trial.  Ha  is  compelled  to  pay. 

great  spectacle  to  see  a  man  of  fortune  and 
standing  like  him,  making  all  those  prepara- 
tions, and  incurring  so  great  expense,  on  ac- 
count of  a  refusal  to  pay  five  dollars,  knowing, 
too,  that  he  would  have  to  pay  it  in  the  end. 
The  people  of  the  realm  were  convinced  that 
Hampden  was  right,  and  they  applauded  and 
honored  him  very  greatly  for  his  spirit  and 
courage.  The  trial  lasted  twelve  days.  The 
illegality  and  injustice  of  the  tax  were  fully  ex- 
posed. The  people  concurred  entirely  with 
him,  and  even  a  part  of  the  judges  were  con- 
vinced. He  was  called  the  patriot  Hampden, 
and  his  name  will  always  be  celebrated  in  En- 
glish history.  The  whole  discussion,  however, 
though  it  produced  a  great  effect  at  the  time, 
would  be  of  no  interest  now,  since  it  turned 
mainly  on  the  question  what  the  king's  rights 
actually  were,  according  to  the  ancient  cus- 
toms and  usages  of  the  realm.  The  question 
before  mankind  now  is  a  very  different  one  ; 
it  is  not  what  the  powers  and  prerogatives  of 
government  have  been  in  times  past,  but  what 
they  ought  to  be  now  and  in  time  to  come. 

The  king's  government  gained  the  victory, 
ostensibly,  in  this  contest,  and  Hampden  had 
to  pay  his  money.     Very  large  sums  were  col- 


120  King   Charles   I.  [1638. 

A  fleet  raised.  •  Its  exploits  among  the  herring-lmsses. 

lected,  also,  from  others  by  this  tax,  and  a  great 
fleet  was  raised.  The  performances  and  ex- 
ploits of  the  fleet  had  some  influence  in  quiet- 
ing the  murmurs  of  the  people.  The  fleet  was 
the  greatest  which  England  had  ever  possessed. 
One  of  its  exploits  was  to  compel  the  Dutch  to 
pay  a  large  sum  for  the  privilege  of  fishing  in 
the  narrow  seas  about  Great  Britain.  The 
Dutch  had  always  maintained  that  these  seas 
were  public,  and  open  to  all  the  world ;  and 
they  had  a  vast  number  of  fishing  boats,  called 
herring-busses,  that  used  to  resort  to  them  for 
the  purpose  of  catching  herring,  which  they 
made  a  business  of  preserving  and  sending  all 
over  the  world.  The  English  ships  attacked 
these  fleets  of  herring-busses,  and  drove  them 
off;  and  as  the  Dutch  were  not  strong  enough 
to  defend  them,  they  agreed  to  pay  a  large  sum 
annually  for  the  right  to  fish  in  the  seas  in 
question,  protesting,  however,  against  it  as  an 
extortion,  for  they  maintained  that  the  En- 
glish had  no  control  over  any  seas  beyond  the 
bays  and  estuaries  of  their  own  shores. 

One  of  the  chief  means  which  Charles  de- 
pended upon  during  the  long  period  that  he 
governed  without  a  Parliament,  was  a  certain 
famous  tribunal  or  court  called  the  Star  Cham- 


1636.]  The    King's   Prerogative.      121 

Court  of  the  Star  Chamber.  Its  constitution. 

ber.  This  court  was  a  very  ancient  one,  hav- 
ing been  established  in  some  of  the  earliest 
reigns ;  but  it  never  attracted  any  special  at- 
tention until  the  time  of  Charles.  His  govern- 
ment called  it  into  action  a  great  deal,  and  ex- 
tended its  powers,  and  made  it  a  means  of  great 
injustice  and  oppression,  as  the  people  thought, 
or,  as  Charles  would  have  said,  a  very  efficient 
means  of  vindicating  his  prerogative,  and  pun- 
ishing the  stubborn  and  rebellious. 

There  were  three  reasons  why  this  court  was 
a  more  convenient  and  powerful  instrument  in 
the  hands  of  the  king  and  his  council  than  any 
of  the  other  courts  in  the  kingdom.  First,  it 
was,  by  its  ancient  constitution,  composed  of 
members  of  the  council,  with  the  exception  of 
two  persons,  who  were  to  be  judges  in  the  oth- 
er courts.  This  plan  of  having  two  judges  from 
the  common  law  courts  seems  to  have  been 
adopted  for  the  purpose  of  securing  some  sort 
of  conformity  of  the  Star  Chamber  decisions 
with  the  ordinary  principles  of  English  juris- 
prudence. But  then,  as  these  two  law  judges 
would  always  be  selected  with  reference  to 
their  disposition  to  carry  out  the  king's  plans, 
and  as  the  other  members  of  the  court  were  all 
members  of  the  government  itself,  of  course  the 


122  King   Charles   I.  [1636. 

Trial  by  jury.  No  jury  in  the  Star  Chamber. 

court  was  almost  entirely  under  governmental 
control. 

The  second,  reason  was,  that  in  this  court 
there  was  no  jury.  There  had  never  been  ju- 
ries employed  in  it  from  its  earliest  constitu- 
tion. The  English  had  contrived  the  plan  of 
trial  by  jury  as  a  defense  against  the  severity 
of  government.  If  a  man  was  accused  of 
crime,  the  judges  appointed  by  the  government 
that  he  had  offended  were  not  to  be  allowed  to 
decide  whether  he  was  guilty  or  not.  They 
would  be  likely  not  to  be  impartial.  The  ques- 
tion of  his  guilt  or  innocence  was  to  be  left  to 
twelve  men,  taken  at  hazard  from  the  ordinary 
walks  of  life,  and  who,  consequently,  would  be 
likely  to  sympathize  with  the  accused,  if  they 
saw  any  disposition  to  oppress  him,  rather  than 
to  join  against  him  with  a  tyrannical  govern- 
ment. Thus  the  jury,  as  they  said,  was  a 
great  safeguard.  The  English  have  always  at- 
tached great  value  to  their  system  of  trial  by 
jury.  The  plan  is  retained  in  this  country, 
though  there  is  less  necessity  for  it  under  our 
institutions.  Now,  in  the  Star  Chamber,  it 
had  never  been  the  custom  to  employ  a  jury. 
The  members  of  the  court  decided  the  whole 
question  ;  and  as  they  were  entirely  in  the  in- 


1636.]  The    King's    Prerogative.      123 

Crimes  tried  by  the  Star  Chamber.  Origin  of  the  term. 

terest  of  the  government,  the  government,  of 
course,  had  the  fate  of  every  person  accused 
under  their  direct  control. 

The  third  reason  consisted  in  the  nature  of 
the  crimes  which  it  had  always  been  custom- 
ary to  try  in  this  court.  It  had  jurisdiction  in 
a  great  variety  of  cases  in  which  men  were 
brought  into  collision  with  the  government, 
such  as  charges  of  riot,  sedition,  libel,  opposi- 
tion to  the  edicts  of  the  council,  and  to  proc- 
lamations of  the  king.  These  and  similar  cases 
had  always  been  tried  by  the  Star  Chamber ; 
and  these  were  exactly  the  cases  which  ought 
not  to  be  tried  by  such  a  court ;  for  persons  ac- 
cused of  hostility  to  government  ought  not  to 
be  tried  by  government  itself. 

There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  discussion 
about  the  origin  of  the  term  Star  Chamber. 
The  hall  where  the  court  was  held  was  in  a 
palace  at  Westminster,  and  there  were  a  great 
many  windows  in  it.  Some  think  that  it  was 
from  this  that  the  court  received  its  name. 
Others  suppose  it  was  because  the  court  had 
cognizance  of  a  certain  crime,  the  Latin  name 
of  which  has  a  close  affinity  with  the  word  star. 
Another  reason  is,  that  certain  documents,  called 
starra,  used  to  be  kept  in  the  hall.     The  pret- 


124  King   Charles  I.  [1636. 

Immense  power  of  the  Court  of  Star  Chamber. 

tiest  idea  is  a  sort  of  tradition  that  the  ceiling 
of  the  hall  was  formerly  ornamented  with  stars, 
and  that  this  circumstance  gave  name  to  the 
hall.  This  supposition,  however,  unfortunate- 
ly, has  no  better  foundation  than  the  others  ;  for. 
there  were  no  stars  on  the  ceiling  in  Charles's 
time,  and  there  had  not  been  any  for  a  hundred 
years ;  nor  is  there  any  positive  evidence  that 
there  ever  were.  However,  in  the  absence  of 
any  real  reason  for  preferring  one  of  these  ideas 
over  the  other,  mankind  seem  to  have  wisely 
determined  on  choosing  the  prettiest  of  them, 
so  that  it  is  generally  agreed  that  the  origin  of 
the  name  was  the  ancient  decoration  of  the 
ceilinsr  of  the  hall  with  gilded  stars. 

However  this  may  be,  the  court  of  the  Star 
Chamber  was  an  engine  of  prodigious  power  in 
the  hands  of  Charles's  government.  It  helped 
them  in  two  ways.  They  could  punish  their 
enemies,  and  where  these  enemies  were  wealthy, 
they  could  fill  up  the  treasury  of  the  govern- 
ment by  imposing  enormous  fines  upon  them. 
Sometimes  the  offenses  for  which  these  fines 
were  imposed  were  not  of  a  nature  to  deserve 
such  severe  penalties.  For  instance,  there  was 
a  law  against  turning  tillage  land  into  pastur- 
age.    Land  that  is  tilled  supports  men.     Land 


1636.]  The    King's    Prerogative.      125 

Oppressive  fines.  King's  forests. 

that  is  pastured  supports  cattle  and  sheep. 
The  former  were  a  burden,  sometimes,  to  land- 
lords, the  latter  a  means  of  wealth.  Hence 
there  was  then,  as  there  is  now,  a  tendency  in 
England,  in  certain  parts  of  the  country,  for 
the  landed  proprietors  to  change  their  tillage 
land  to  pasture,  and  thus  drive  the  peasants 
away  from  their  homes.  There  were  laws 
against  this,  but  a  great  many  persons  had 
done  it  notwithstanding.  One  of  these  persons 
was  fined  four  thousand  pounds ;  an  enormous 
sum.  The  rest  were  alarmed,  and  made  com- 
positions, as  they  were  called ;  that  is,  they 
paid  at  once  a  certain  sum  on  condition  of  not 
being  prosecuted.  Thirty  thousand  pounds 
were  collected  in  this  way,  which  was  then  a 
very  large  amount. 

There  were  in  those  days,  as  there  are  now, 
certain  tracts  of  land  in  England  called  the 
king's  forests,  though  a  large  portion  of  them 
are  now  without  trees.  The  boundaries  of 
these  lands  had  not  been  very  well  defined,  but 
the  government  now  published  decrees  specify- 
ing the  boundaries,  and  extending  them  so  far 
as  to  include,  in  many  cases,  the  buildings  and 
improvements  of  other  proprietors.  They  then 
prosecuted   these    proprietors   for   having    en- 


126  King    Charles    I.  [1636. 

Offenses  against  the  king  and  his  lords. 

croached,  as  they  called  it,  upon  the  crown 
lands,  and  the  Star  Chamber  assessed  very 
heavy  fines  upon  them.  The  people  said  all 
this  was  done  merely  to  get  pretexts  to  extort 
money  from  the  nation,  to  make  up  for  the 
want  of  a  Parliament  to  assess  regular  taxes ; 
but  the  government  said  it  was  a  just  and  legal 
mode  of  protecting  the  ancient  and  legitimate 
rights  of  the  king. 

In  these  and  similar  modes,  large  sums  of 
money  were  collected  as  fines  and  penalties  for 
offenses  more  or  less  real.  In  other  cases  very 
severe  punishments  were  inflicted  for  various 
sorts  of  offenses  committed  against  the  personal 
dignity  of  the  king,  or  the  great  lords  of  his 
government.  It  was  considered  highly  import- 
ant to  repress  all  appearance  of  disrespect  or 
hostility  to  the  king.  One  man  got  into  some 
contention  with  one  of  the  king's  officers,  and 
finally  struck  him.  He  was  fined  ten  thousand 
pounds.  Another  man  said  that  a  certain  arch- 
bishop had  incurred  the  king's  displeasure  by 
wanting  some  toleration  for  the  Catholics. 
This  was  considered  a  slander  against  the  arch- 
bishop, and  the  offender  was  sentenced  to  be 
fined  a  thousand  pounds,  to  be  whipped,  im- 
prisoned, and  to  stand  in  the  pillory  at  West- 


1636.]  The    King's    Prerogative.      127 

A  gentleman  fined  for  resenting  an  insult. 

minster,  and  at  three  other  places  in  various 
parts  of  the  kingdom. 

A  gentleman  was  following  a  chase  as  a 
spectator,  the  hounds  belonging  to  a  noble- 
man. The  huntsman,  who  had  charge  of  the 
hounds,  ordered  him  to  keep  back,  and  not 
come  so  near  the  hounds ;  and  in  giving  him 
this  order,  spoke,  as  the  gentleman  alleged,  so 
insolently,  that  he  struck  him  with  his  riding- 
whip.  The  huntsman  threatened  to  complain 
to  his  master,  the  nobleman.  The  gentleman 
said  that  if  his  master  should  justify  him  in 
such  insulting  language  as  he  had  used,  he 
would  serve  him  in  the  same  manner.  The 
Star  Chamber  fined  him  ten  thousand  pounds 
for  speaking  so  disrespectfully  of  a  lord. 

By  these  and  similar  proceedings,  large  sums 
of  money  were  collected  by  the  Star  Chamber 
for  the  king's  treasury,  and  all  expression  of 
discontent  and  dissatisfaction  on  the  part  of  the 
people  was  suppressed.  This  last  policy,  how- 
ever, the  suppression  of  expressions  of  dissatis- 
faction, is  always  a  very  dangerous  one  for  any 
government  to  undertake.  Discontent,  silenced 
by  force,  is  exasperated  and  extended.  The 
outward  signs  of  its  existence  disappear,  but  its 
inward  workings  become  wide-spread  and  dan- 


128  King   Charles    I.  [1636. 

Murmurs  silenced.  The  kingdom  of  Scotland. 

gerous,  just  in  proportion  to  the  weight  by 
which  the  safety-valve  is  kept  down.  Charles 
and.  his  court  of  the  Star  Chamber  rejoiced  in 
the  power  and  efficacy  of  their  tremendous  tri- 
bunal. They  issued  proclamations  and  de- 
crees, and  governed  the  country  by  means  of 
them.  They  silenced  all  murmurs.  But  they 
were,  all  the  time,  disseminating  through  the 
whole  length  and  breadth  of  the  land  a  deep 
and  inveterate  enmity  to  royalty,  which  ended 
in  a  revolution  of  the  government,  and  the  de- 
capitation of  the  king.  They  stopped  the  hiss- 
ing of  the  steam  for  the  time,  but  caused  an  ex- 
plosion in  the  end. 

Charles  was  King  of  Scotland  as  well  as  of 
England.  The  two  countries  were,  however, 
as  countries,  distinct,  each  having  its  own  laws, 
its  own  administration,  and  its  own  separate 
dominions.  The  sovereign,  however,  was  the 
same.  A  king  could  inherit  two  kingdoms, 
just  as  a  man  can,  in  this  country,  inherit  two 
farms,  which  may,  nevertheless,  be  at  a  dis- 
tance from  each  other,  and  managed  separately. 
Now,  although  Charles  had,  from  the  death  of 
his  father,  exercised  sovereignty  over  the  realm 
of  Scotland,  he  had  not  been  crowned,  nor  had 
even  visited  Scotland.     The  people  of  Scotland 


1633.]  The    King's    Prerogative.      129 

The  king  visits  Scotland.  He  is  crowned  there. 

felt  somewhat  neglected.  They  murmured 
that  their  common  monarch  gave  all  his  atten- 
tion to  the  sister  and  rival  kingdom.  They 
said  that  if  the  king  did  not  consider  the  Scot- 
tish crown  worth  coming  after,  they  might, 
perhaps,  look  out  for  some  other  way  of  dispos- 
ing of  it. 

The  king,  accordingly,  in  1633,  began  to 
make  preparations  for  a  royal  progress  into 
Scotland.  He  first  issued  a  proclamation  re- 
quiring a  proper  supply  of  provisions  to  be  col- 
lected at  the  several  points  of  his  proposed  route, 
and  specified  the  route,  and  the  length  of  stay 
which  he  should  make  in  each  place.  He  set 
out  on  the  13th  of  May  with  a  splendid  reti- 
nue. He  stopped  at  the  seats  of  several  of  the 
nobility  on  the  way,  to  enjoy  the  hospitalities 
and  entertainments  which  they  had  prepared 
for  him.  He  proceeded  so  slowly  that  it  was  a 
month  before  he  reached  the  frontier.  Here 
all  his  English  servants  and  retinue  retired  from 
their  posts,  and  their  places  were  supplied  by 
Scotchmen  who  had  been  previously  appointed, 
and  who  were  awaiting  his  arrival.  He  enter- 
ed Edinburgh  with  great  pomp  and  parade,  all 
Scotland  flocking  to  the  capital  to  witness  the 
festivities.  The  coronation  took  place  three 
9 


130  King    Charles    I.  [1633. 

The  kin?  returns  to  London.  Increasing  discontent 

days  afterward.  He  met  the  Scotch  Parlia- 
ment, and,  for  form's  sake,  took  a  part  in  the 
proceedings,  so  as  actually  to  exercise  his  royal 
authority  as  King  of  Scotland.  This  being 
over,  he  was  conducted  in  great  state  back  to 
Berwick,  which  is  on  the  frontier,  and  thence 
he  returned  by  rapid  journeys  to  London. 

The  king  dissolved  his  last  Parliament  in 
1629.  He  had  now  been  endeavoring  for  four 
or  five  years  to  govern  alone.  He  succeeded 
tolerably  well,  so  far  as  external  appearances 
indicated,  up  to  this  time.  There  was,  how- 
ever, beneath  the  surface,  a  deep-seated  discon- 
tent, which  was  constantly  widening  and  ex- 
tending, and,  soon  after  the  return  of  the  king 
from  Scotland,  real  difficulties  gradually  arose, 
by  which  he  was,  in  the  end,  compelled  to  call 
a  Parliament  again.  What  these  difficulties 
were  will  be  explained  in  the  subsequent  chap- 
ters. 


1633.]  Archbishop    Laud.  131 

Archbishop  Laud.  The  Church. 


c  ii  after    v  i. 
Archbishop    Laud. 

IN  getting  so  deeply  involved  in  difficulties 
with  his  people,  King  Charles  did  not  act 
alone.  He  had,  as  we  have  already  explained, 
a  great  deal  of  help.  There  were  many  men 
of  intelligence  and  rank  who  entertained  the 
same  opinions  that  he  did,  or  who  were,  at 
least,  willing  to  adopt  them  for  the  sake  of 
office  and  power.  These  men  he  drew  around 
him.  He  gave  them  office  and  power,  and  they 
joined  him  in  the  efforts  he  made  to  defend  and 
enlarge  the  royal  prerogative,  and  to  carry  on 
the  government  by  the  exercise  of  it.  One  of 
the  most  prominent  and  distinguished  of  these 
men  was  Laud. 

The  reader  must  understand  that  the  Church, 
in  England,  is  very  different  from  any  thing 
that  exists  under  the  same  name  in  this  coun- 
try. Its  bishops  and  clergy  are  supported  by 
revenues  derived  from  a  vast  amount  of  prop- 
erty which  belongs  to  the  Church  itself.  This 
property  is  entirely  independent  of  all  control 


132  King   Charles    I.         [1633-6. 

System  of  the  English  Church.  The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

by  the  people  of  the  parishes.  The  clergyman, 
as  soon  as  he  is  appointed,  comes  into  posses- 
sion of  it  in  his  own  right ;  and  he  is  not  ap- 
pointed by  the  people,  but  by  some  nobleman 
.  or  high  officer  of  state,  who  has  inherited  the 
right  to  appoint  the  clergyman  of  that  particu- 
lar parish.  There  are  bishops,  also,  who  have 
very  large  revenues,  likewise  independent ;  and 
over  these  bishops  is  one  great  dignitary,  who 
presides  in  lofty  state  over  the  whole  system. 
This  officer  is  called  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury. There  is  one  other  archbishop,  called  the 
Archbishop  of  York ;  but  his  realm  is  much 
more  limited  and  less  important.  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  is  styled  the  Lord  Pri- 
mate of  all  England.  His  rank  is  above  that 
of  all  the  peers  of  the  realm.  He  crowns  the 
kings.  He  has  two  magnificent  palaces,  one  at 
Canterbury  and  one  at  London,  for  his  resi- 
dences, and  has  very  large  revenues  to  main- 
tain a  style  of  living  in  accordance  with  his 
rank.  He  has  the  superintendence  of  all  the 
affairs  of  the  Church  for  the  whole  realm,  ex- 
cept a  small  portion  pertaining  to  the  archbish- 
opric of  York.  His  palace  in  London  is  on  the 
bank  of  the  Thames,  opposite  Westminster 
It  is  called  Lambeth  Palace. 


1633-6.]       Archbishop    Laud.  135 

Canterbury.  The  Cathedral.  Officers. 

The  city  of  Canterbury,  which  is  the  chief 
seat  of  his  dominion,  is  southeast  of  London, 
not  very  far  from  the  sea.  The  Cathedral  is 
there,  which  is  the  archbishop's  church.  It  is 
more  than  five  hundred  feet  in  length,  and  the 
tower  is  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high. 
The  magnificence  of  the  architecture  and  the 
decorations  of  the  building  correspond  with  its 
size.  There  is  a  large  company  of  clergymen 
and  other  officers  attached  to  the  service  of  the 
Cathedral.  They  are  more  than  a  hundred 
in  number.  The  palace  of  the  archbishop  is 
near. 

The  Church  was  thus,  in  the  days  of  Charles, 
a  complete  realm  of  itself,  with  its  own  prop- 
erty, its  own  laws,  its  own  legislature,  and 
courts,  and  judges,  its  own  capital,  and  its  own 
monarch.  It  was  entirely  independent  of  the 
mass  of  the  people  in  all  these  respects,  as  all 
these  things  were  entirely  controlled  by  the 
bishops  and  clergy,  and  the  clergy  were  gener- 
ally appointed  by  the  noblemen,  and  the  bish- 
ops by  the  king.  This  made  the  system  almost 
entirely  independent  of  the  community  at  large  ; 
and  as  there  was  organized  under  it  a  vast 
amount  of  wealth,  and  influence,  and  power, 
the  Archbishop   of  Canterburv,  who  presided 


136  King    Charles    I.         [1633-6. 

Laud  made  archbishop.  His  business  capacity. 

over  the  whole,  was  as  great  in  authority  as  he 
was  in  rank  and  honor.  Now  Laud  was  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury. 

King  Charles  had  made  him  so.  He  had  ob- 
served that  Laud,  who  had  been  advanced  to 
some  high  stations  in  the  Church  by  his  father, 
King  James,  was  desirous  to  enlarge  and 
strengthen  the  powers  and  prerogatives  of  the 
Church,  just  as  he  himself  was  endeavoring  to 
do  in  respect  to  those  of  the  throne.  He  ac- 
cordingly promoted  him  from  one  post  of  influ- 
ence and  honor  to  another,  until  he  made  him 
at  last  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  Thus  he 
was  placed  upon  the  summit  of  ecclesiastical 
grandeur  and  power. 

He  commenced  his  work,  however,  of  strength- 
ening and  aggrandizing  the  Church,  before  he 
was  appointed  to  this  high  office.  He  was 
Bishop  of  London  for  many  years,  which  is  a 
post,  in  some  respects,  second  only  to  that  of 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  While  in  this  sta- 
tion, he  was  appointed  by  the  king  to  many 
high  civil  offices.  He  had  great  capacity  for 
the  transaction  of  business,  and  for  the  fulfill- 
ment of  high  trusts,  whether  of  Church  or  state. 
He  was  a  man  of  great  integrity  and  moral 
worth.     He  was  stern  and  severe  in  manners, 


1633-6.]       Archbishop    Laud.  137 

Laud's  character.  Episcopacy  in  England  and  the  United  States. 

but  learned  and  accomplished.  His  whole  soul 
was  bent  on  what  he  undoubtedly  considered 
the  great  duty  of  his  life,  supporting  and  con- 
firming the  authority  of  the  king,  and  the  pow- 
er and  influence  of  English  Episcopacy.  Not- 
withstanding his  high  qualifications,  however, 
many  persons  were  jealous  of  the  influence 
which  he  possessed  with  the  king,  and  murmur- 
ed against  the  appointment  of  a  churchman  to 
such  high  offices  of  state. 

There  was  another  source  of  hostility  to 
Laud.  There  was  a  large  part  of  the  people 
of  England  who  were  against  the  Church  of 
England  altogether.  They  did  not  like  a  sys- 
tem in  which  all  power  and  influence  came, 
as  it  were,  from  above  downward.  The  king 
made  the  noblemen,  the  noblemen  made  the 
bishops,  the  bishops  made  the  clergy,  and  the 
clergy  ruled  their  flocks  ;  the  flocks  themselves 
having  nothing  to  say  or  do  but  to  submit.  It 
is  very  different  with  Episcopacy  in  this  coun- 
try. The  people  here  choose  the  clergy,  and 
the  clergy  choose  the  bishops,  so  that  power  in 
the  Church,  as  in  every  thing  else  here,  goes 
from  below  upward.  The  two  systems,  when 
at  rest,  look  very  similar  in  the  two  countries ; 
but  when  in  action,  the  current  of  life  flows  in 
10 


138  King   Charles   I.        [1633-6. 

Opposition  to  the  Established  Church. 

contrary  directions,  making  the  two  diametri- 
cally opposite  to  each  other  in  spirit  and  power. 
In  England,  Episcopacy  is  an  engine  by  which 
the  people  are  ecclesiastically  governed.  Here, 
•it  is  the  machinery  by  which  they  govern. 
Whatever  the  forms  are,  the  fact  must  be  that 
the  people  govern  here. 

Now  in  England  there  was  a  large  and  in- 
creasing party  who  hated  and  opposed  the 
whole  Episcopal  system.  Laud,  to  counteract 
this  tendency,  attempted  to  define,  and  enlarge, 
and  extend  that  system  as  far  as  possible.  He 
made  the  most  of  all  the  ceremonies  of  worship, 
and  introduced  others,  which  were,  indeed,  not 
exactly  new,  but  rather  ancient  ones  revived. 
He  did  this  conscientiously,  no  doubt,  thinking 
that  these  forms  of  devotion  were  adapted  to 
impress  the  soul  of  the  worshiper,  and  lead  him 
to  feel,  in  his  heart,  the  reverence  which  his 
outward  action  expressed.  Many  of  the  people, 
however,  bitterly  opposed  these  things.  They 
considered  it  a  return  to  popery.  The  more 
that  Laud,  and  those  who  acted  with  him,  at- 
tempted to  magnify  the  rites  and  the  powers  of 
the  Church,  the  more  these  persons  began  to 
abhor  every  thing  of  the  kind.  They  wanted 
Christianity  itself,  in  its  purity,  uncontaminat- 


1633—6.]       Archbishop    Laud.  139 

The  Puritans.  Disputes  about  the  services  of  the  Church. 

ed,  as  they  said,  by  these  popish  and  idolatrous 
forms.     They  were  called  Puritans. 

There  were  a  great  many  things  which  seem 
to  us  at  the  present  day  of  very  little  conse- 
quence, which  were  then  the  subjects  of  endless 
disputes  and  of  the  most  bitter  animosity. 
For  instance,  one  point  was  whether  the  place 
where  the  communion  was  to  be  administered 
should  be  called  the  communion  table  or  the 
altar ;  and  in  what  part  of  the  church  it  should 
stand  ;  and  whether  the  person  officiating 
should  be  called  a  priest  or  a  clergyman ;  and 
whether  he  should  wear  one  kind  of  dress  or 
another.  Great  importance  was  attached  to 
these  things ;  but  it  was  not  on  their  own  ac- 
count, but  on  account  of  their  bearing  on  the 
question  whether  the  Lord's  Supper  was  to  be 
considered  only  a  ceremony  commemorative  of 
Christ's  death,  or  whether  it  was,  whenever 
celebrated  by  a  regularly  authorized  priest,  a 
real  renewal  of  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  as  the 
Catholics  maintained.  Calling  the  communion 
table  an  altar,  and  the  officiating  minister  a 
priest,  and  clothing  him  in  a  sacerdotal  garb, 
countenanced  the  idea  of  a  renewal  of  the  sac- 
rifice of  Christ.  Laud  and  his  coadjutors  urged 
the  adoption  of  all  these  and  similar  usages. 


140  King    Charles    I.        [1633—6. 

Controversy  about  amusements  on  Sunday. 

The  Puritans  detested  them,  because  they  de- 
tested and  abhorred  the  doctrine  which  they 
seemed  to  imply. 

Another  great  topic  of  controversy  was  the 
subject  of  amusements.  It  is  a  very  singular 
circumstance,  that  in  those  branches  of  the 
Christian  Church  where  rites  and  forms  are 
most  insisted  upon,  the  greatest  latitude  is  al- 
lowed in  respect  to  the  gayeties  and  amusements 
of  social  life.  Catholic  Paris  is  filled  with  the- 
aters and  dancing,  and  the  Sabbath  is  a  holi- 
day. In  London,  on  the  other  hand,  the  num- 
ber of  theaters  is  small,  dancing  is  considered 
as  an  amusement  of  a  more  or  less  equivocal 
character,  and  the  Sabbath  is  rigidly  observed  ; 
and  among  all  the  simple  Democratic  churches 
of  New  England,  to  dance  or  to  attend  the  the- 
ater is  considered  almost  morally  wrong.  It 
was  just  so  in  the  days  of  Laud.  He  wished 
to  encourage  amusements  among  the  people, 
particularly  on  Sunday,  after  church.  This 
was  partly  for  the  purpose  of  counteracting  the 
efforts  of  those  who  were  inclined  to  Puritan 
views.  They  attached  great  importance  to 
their  sermons  and  lectures,  for  in  them  they 
could  address  and  influence  the  people.  But 
by  means  of  these  addresses,  as  Laud  thought, 


1633-6.]       Archbishop    Laud.  141 


Laud's  contention  with  the  judges. 


they  put  ideas  of  insubordination  into  the  minds 
of  the  people,  and  encroached  on  the  authority 
of  the  Church  and  of  the  king.  To  prevent 
this,  the  High-Church  party  wished  to  exalt  the 
prayers  in  the  Church  service,  and  to  give  as 
little  place  and  influence  as  possible  to  the  ser- 
mon, and  to  draw  off  the  attention  of  the  peo- 
ple from  the  discussions  and  exhortations  of  the 
preachers  by  encouraging  games,  dances,  and 
amusements  of  all  kinds. 

The  judges  in  one  of  the  counties,  at  a  regu- 
lar court  held  by  them,  once  passed  an  order 
forbidding  certain  revels  and  carousals  connect- 
ed with  the  Church  service,  on  account  of  the 
immoralities  and  disorders,  as  they  alleged,  to 
which  they  gave  rise ;  and  they  ordered  that 
public  notice  to  this  effect  should  be  given  by 
the  bishop.  The  archbishop  (Laud)  considered 
this  an  interference  on  the  part  of  the  civil 
magistrates  with  the  powers  and  prerogatives 
of  the  Church.  He  had  the  judges  brought  be- 
fore the  council,  and  censured  there  ;  and  they 
were  required  by  the  council  to  revoke  then- 
order  at  the  next  court.  The  judges  did  so,  but 
in  such  a  way  as  to  show  that  they  did  it  sim- 
ply in  obedience  to  the  command  of  the  king's 
council.     The  people,  or  at  least  all  of  them 


142  -      King    Charles  I.        [1633-6. 

Severe  punishments  for  expression  of  opinion. 


who  were  inclined  to  Puritan  views,  sided  with 
the  judges,  and  were  more  strict  in  abstaining 
from  all  such  amusements  on  Sunday  than 
ever.  This,  of  course,  made  those  who  were 
on  the  side  of  Laud  more  determined  to  pro- 
mote these  gayeties.  Thus,  as  neither  party 
pursued,  in  the  least  degree,  a  generous  or  con- 
ciliatory course  toward  the  other,  the  difference 
between  them  widened  more  and  more.  The 
people  of  the  country  were  fast  becoming  either 
bigoted  High-Churchmen  or  fanatical  Puritans. 

Laud  employed  the  power  of  the  Star  Cham- 
ber a  great  deal  in  the  accomplishment  of  his 
purpose  of  enforcing  entire  submission  to  the 
ecclesiastical  authority  of  the  Church.  He 
even  had  persons  sometimes  punished  very  se- 
verely for  words  of  disrespect,  or  for  writings  in 
which  they  censured  what  they  considered  the 
tyranny  under  which  they  suffered.  This  se- 
vere punishment  for  the  mere  expression  of 
opinion  only  served  to  fix  the  opinion  more 
firmly,  and  disseminate  it  more  widely.  Some- 
times men  would  glory  in  their  sufferings  for 
this  cause,  and  bid  the  authorities  defiance. 

One  man,  for  instance,  named  Lilburne,  was 
brought  before  the  Star  Chamber,  charged  with 
publishing  seditious  pamphlets.     Now,  in  all 


163-3—6.]       Archbishop    Laud.  143 

Case  of  Lilburne.  His  indomitable  spirit. 

ordinary  courts  of  justice,  no  man  is  called 
upon  to  say  any  thing  against  himself.  Unless 
his  crime  can  be  proved  by  the  testimony  of 
others,  it  can  not  be  proved  at  all.  But  in  the 
Star  Chamber,  whoever  was  brought  to  trial 
had  to  take  an  oath  at  first  that  he  would  an- 
swer all  questions  asked,  even  if  they  tended  to 
criminate  himself.  When  they  proposed  this 
oath  to  Lilburne,  he  refused  to  take  it.  They 
decided  that  this  was  contempt  of  court,  and 
sentenced  him  to  be  whipped,  put  in  the  pillory, 
and  imprisoned.  While  they  were  whipping 
him,  he  spent  the  time  in  making  a  speech  to 
the  spectators  against  the  tyranny  of  bishops, 
referring  to  Laud,  whom  he  considered  as  the 
author  of  these  proceedings.  He  continued  to 
do  the  same  while  in  the  pillory.  As  he  passed 
along,  too,  he  distributed  copies  of  the  pamph- 
lets which  he  was  prosecuted  for  writing.  The 
Star  Chamber,  hearing  that  he  was  harangu- 
ing the  mob,  ordered  him  to  be  gagged.  This 
did  not  subdue  him.  He  began  to  stamp  with 
his  foot  and  gesticulate  ;  thus  continuing  to  ex- 
press his  indomitable  spirit  of  hostility  to  the 
tyranny  which  he  opposed.  This  single  case 
would  be  of  no  great  consequence  alone,  but  it 
was  not  alone.     The  attempt  to  put  Lilburne 


144  King    Charles   I.        [1633-G. 

The  young  lawyers'  toast.  Ingenious  plea. 

down  was  a  symbol  of  the  experiment  of  coer- 
cion which  Charles  in  the  state,  and  Laud  in 
the  Church,  were  trying  upon  the  whole  na- 
tion ;  it  was  a  symbol  both  in  respect  to  the 
means  employed,  and  to  the  success  attained 
by  them. 

One  curious  case  is  related,  which  turned  out 
more  fortunately  than  usual  for  the  parties  ac- 
cused. Some  young  lawyers  in  London  were 
drinking  at  an  evening  entertainment,  and 
among  other  toasts  they  drank  confusion  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  One  of  the  wait- 
ers, who  heard  them,  mentioned  the  circum- 
stance, and  they  were  brought  before  the  Star 
Chamber.  Before  their  trial  came  on,  they  ap- 
plied to  a  certain  nobleman  to  know  what  they 
should  do.  "Where  was  the  waiter,"  asked 
the  nobleman,  "when  you  drank  the  toast?" 
"At  the  door."  "Oh!  very  well,  then,"  said 
he ;  "  tell  the  court  that  he  only  heard  a  part 
of  the  toast,  as  he  was  going  out ;  and  that  the 
words  really  were,  '  Confusion  to  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury's  enemies.'  "  By  this  ingenious 
plea,  and  by  means  of  a  great  appearance  of 
humility  and  deference  in  the  presence  of  the 
archbishop,  the  lawyers  escaped  with  a  repri- 
mand. 


1633-6.]       Archbishop    Laud.  145 

Laud's  designs  upon  the  Scotch  Church. 

Laud  was  not  content  with  establishing  and 
confirming  throughout  all  England  the  author- 
ity of  the  Church,  but  he  wanted  to  extend  the 
same  system  to  Scotland.  When  King  Charles 
went  to  Scotland  to  be  crowned,  he  took  Laud 
with  him.  He  was  pleased  with  Laud's  en- 
deavors to  enlarge  and  confirm  the  powers  of 
the  Church,  and  wished  to  aid  him  in  the  work. 
There  were  two  reasons  for  this.  One  was,  that 
the  same  class  of  men,  the  Puritans,  were  the 
natural  enemies  of  both,  so  that  the  king  and 
the  archbishop  were  drawn  together  by  having 
one  common  foe.  Then,  as  the  places  in  the 
Church  were  not  hereditary,  but  were  filled  by 
appointments  from  the  king  and  the  great  no- 
bles, whatever  power  the  Church  could  get  into 
its  hands  could  be  employed  by  the  king  to 
strengthen  his  own  authority,  and  keep  his  sub- 
jects in  subjection. 

We  must  not,  however,  censure  the  king  and 
his  advisers  too  strongly  for  this  plan.  They 
doubtless  were  ambitious ;  they  loved  power ; 
they  wanted  to  bear  sway,  unresisted  and  un- 
questioned, over  the  whole  realm.  But  then 
the  king  probably  thought  that  the  exercise  of 
such  a  government  was  necessary  for  the  order 
and  prosperity  of  the  realm,  besides  being  his 


146  King    Charles   I.        [1633-G. 

Motives  of  Laud  and  the  king.  The  Liturgy. 

inherent  and  indefeasible  right.  Good  and  bad 
motives  were  doubtless  mingled  here,  as  in  all 
human  action ;  but  then  the  king  was,  in  the 
main,  doing  what  he  supposed  it  was  his  duty 
to  do.  In  proposing,  therefore,  to  build  up  the 
Church  in  Scotland,  and  to  make  it  conform  to 
the  English  Church  in  its  rites  and  ceremonies, 
he  and  Laud  doubtless  supposed  that  they  were 
going  greatly  to  improve  the  government  of  the 
sister  kingdom. 

There  was  in  those  days,  as  now,  in  the  En- 
glish Church,  a  certain  prescribed  course  of 
prayers,  and  psalms,  and  Scripture  readings, 
for  each  day,  to  be  read  from  a  book  by  the 
minister.  This  was  called  the  Liturgy.  The 
Puritans  did  not  like  a  liturgy.  It  tied  men 
up,  and  did  not  leave  the  individual  mind  of  the 
preacher  at  liberty  to  range  freely,  as  they 
wished  it  to  do,  in  conducting  the  devotional 
services.  It  was  on  this  very  account  that  the 
friends  of  strong  government  did  like  it.  They 
wanted  to  curtail  this  liberty,  which,  however, 
they  called  license,  and  which  they  thought 
made  mischief.  In  extemporaneous  prayers,  it 
is  often  easy  to  see  that  the  speaker  is  aiming 
much  more  directly  at  producing  a  salutary  ef- 
fect on  the  minds  of  his  hearers  than  at  simply 


1633-6.J       Archbishop    Laud.  147 


Laud  prepares  tliem  a  Liturgy. 


presenting  petitions  to  the  Supreme  Being. 
But,  notwithstanding  this  evil,  the  existence  of 
which  no  candid  man  can  deny,  the  enemies  of 
forms,  who  are  generally  friends  of  the  largest 
liberty,  think  it  best  to  leave  the  clergyman 
free.  The  friends  of  forms,  however,  prefer 
forms  on  this  very  account.  They  like  what 
they  consider  the  wholesome  and  salutary  re- 
straints which  they  impose. 

Now  there  has  always  been  a  great  spirit  of 
freedom  in  the  Scottish  mind.  That  people  have 
ever  been  unwilling  to  submit  to  coercion  or 
restraints.  There  is  probably  no  race  of  men 
on  earth  that  would  make  worse  slaves  than  the 
Scotch.  Their  sturdy  independence  and  determ- 
ination to  be  free  could  never  be  subdued.  In 
the  days  of  Charles  they  were  particularly  fond 
of  freely  exercising  their  own  minds,  and  of 
speaking  freely  to  others  on  the  subject  of  reli- 
gion. They  thought  for  themselves,  sometimes 
right  and  sometimes  wrong ;  but  they  would 
think,  and  they  would  express  their  thoughts ; 
and  their  being  thus  unaccustomed,  in  one  par- 
ticular, to  submit  to  restraints,  rendered  them 
more  difficult  to  be  governed  in  others.  Laud 
thought,  consequently,  that  they,  particularly, 
needed  a  Liturgy.     He  prepared  one  for  them. 


148  King    Charles    I.  [1637. 

Scenes  of  tumult.  Treacbing  to  an  empty  church. 

Tt  was  varied  somewhat  from  the  English  Lit- 
urgy, though  it  was  substantially  the  same. 
The  king  proclaimed  it,  and  required  the  bish- 
ops to  see  that  it  was  employed  in  all  the 
churches  in  Scotland. 

The  day  for  introducing  the  Liturgy  was  the 
signal  for  riots  all  over  the  kingdom.  In  the 
principal  church  in  Edinburgh  they  called  out 
"  A  pope  !  A  pope  /"  when  the  clergyman  came 
in  with  his  book  and  his  pontifical  robes.  The 
bishop  ascended  the  pulpit  to  address  the  peo- 
ple to  appease  them,  and  a  stool  came  flying 
through  the  air  at  his  head.  The  police  then 
expelled  the  congregation,  and  the  clergyman 
went  through  with  the  service  of  the  Liturgy 
in  the  empty  church,  the  congregation  outside, 
in  great  tumult,  accompanying  the  exercises 
with  cries  of  disapprobation  and  resentment, 
and  with  volleys  of  stones  against  the  doors  and 
windows. 

The  Scotch  sent  a  sort  of  embassador  to  Lon- 
don to  represent  to  the  king  that  the  hostility 
to  the  Liturgy  was  so  universal  and  so  strong 
that  it  could  not  be  enforced.  But  the  king 
and  his  council  had  the  same  conscientious 
scruples  about  giving  up  in  a  contest  with  sub- 
jects, that  a  teacher  or  a  parent,  in  our  day, 


1637.]  Archbishop    Laud.  149 

The  Scotch  rebel.  The  king's  fool. 

would  feel  in  the  case  of  resistance  from  chil- 
dren or  scholars.  The  king  sent  down  a  proc- 
lamation that  the  observance  of  the  Liturgy 
must  be  insisted  on.  The  Scotch  prepared  to 
resist.  They  sent  delegates  to  Edinburgh,  and 
organized  a  sort  of  government.  They  raised 
armies.  They  took  possession  of  the  king's 
castles.  They  made  a  solemn  covenant,  bind- 
ing themselves  to  insist  on  religious  freedom. 
In  a  word,  all  Scotland  was  in  rebellion. 

It  was  the  custom  in  those  days  to  have,  con- 
nected with  the  court,  some  half-witted  person, 
who  used  to  be  fantastically  dressed,  and  to  have 
great  liberty  of  speech,  and  whose  province  was 
to  amuse  the  courtiers.  He  was  called  the  king's 
jester,  or,  more  commonly,  the  fool.  The  name 
of  King  Charles's  fool  was  Archy.  After  this 
rebellion  broke  out,  and  all  England  was  aghast 
at  the  extent  of  the  mischief  which  Laud's  Lit- 
urgy had  done,  the  fool,  seeing  the  archbishop  go 
by  one  day,  called  out  to  him,  "  My  lord !  who 
is  the  fool  now?"  The  archbishop,  as  if  to 
leave  no  possible  doubt  in  respect  to  the  proper 
answer  to  the  question,  had  poor  Archy  tried 
and  punished.  His  sentence  was  to  have  his 
coat  pulled  up  over  his  head,  and  to  be  dis- 
missed from  the  kind's  service.     Had  the  arch- 


150  King   Charles  I.  [1637. 

A  general  assembly  called  in  Scotland. 

bishop  let  it  pass,  it  would  have  ended  with  a 
laugh  in  the  street ;  but  by  resenting  it,  he 
gave  it  notoriety,  caused  it  to  be  recorded,  and 
has  perpetuated  the  memory  of  the  jest  to  all 
future  times.  He  ought  to  have  joined  in  the 
laugh,  and  rewarded  Archy  on  the  spot  for  so 
good  a  witticism. 

The  Scotch,  besides  organizing  a  sort  of  civil 
government,  took  measures  for  summoning  a 
general  assembly  of  their  Church.  This  as- 
sembly met  at  Glasgow.  The  nobility  and 
gentry  flocked  to  Glasgow  at  the  time  of  the 
meeting,  to  encourage  and  sustain  the  assem- 
bly, and  to  manifest  their  interest  in  the  pro- 
ceedings. The  assembly  very  deliberately  went 
to  work,  and,  not  content  with  taking  a  stand 
against  the  Liturgy  which  Charles  had  imposed, 
they  abolished  the  fabric  of  Episcopacy — that 
is,  the  government  of  bishops  —  altogether. 
Thus  Laud's  attempt  to  perfect  and  confirm 
the  system  resulted  in  expelling  it  completely 
from  the  kingdom.  It  has  never  held  up  its 
head  in  Scotland  since.  They  established 
Presbyterianism  in  its  place,  which  is  a  sort  of 
republican  system,  the  pastors  being  all  offi- 
cially equal  to  each  other,  though  banded  to- 
gether under  a  common  government  adminis- 
tered by  themselves. 


1639.]  Archbishop    Laud.  151 

The  king's  expedition  to  the  north. 

The  king  was  determined  to  put  down  this 
rebellion  at  all  hazards.  He  had  made  such 
good  use  of  the  various  irregular  modes  of  rais- 
ing money  which  have  been  already  described, 
and  had  been  so  economical  in  the  use  of  it, 
that  he  had  now  quite  a  sum  of  money  in  his 
treasury ;  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  attempt 
to  enforce  the  unfortunate  Liturgy  upon  the 
people  of  Scotland,  he  might,  perhaps,  have 
gone  on  reigning  without  a  Parliament  to  the 
end  of  his  days.  He  had  now  about  two  hund- 
red thousand  pounds,  by  means  of  which,  to- 
gether with  what  he  could  borrow,  he  hoped  to 
make  one  single  demonstration  of  force  which 
would  bring  the  rebellion  to  an  end.  He  raised 
an  army  and  equipped  a  fleet.  He  issued  a 
proclamation  summoning  all  the  peers  of  the 
realm  to  attend  him.  He  moved  with  this  great 
concourse  from  London  toward  the  north,  the 
whole  country  looking  on  as  spectators  to  be- 
hold the  progress  of  this  great  expedition,  by 
which  their  monarch  was  going  to  attempt  to 
subdue  again  his  other  kingdom. 

Charles  advanced  to  the  city  of  York,  the 
great  city  of  the  north  of  England.  Here  he 
paused  and  established  his  court,  with  all  pos- 
sible pomp  and  parade.     His  design  was  to  im- 


152  King    Charles    I.  [1639. 

The  army  at  York.  The  oath. 

press  the  Scots  with  such  an  idea  of  the  great- 
ness of  the  power  which  was  going  to  over- 
whelm them  as  to  cause  them  to  submit  at 
once.  But  all  this  show  was  very  hollow  and 
delusive.  The  army  felt  a  greater  sympathy 
with  the  Scots  than  they  did  with  the  king. 
The  complaints  against  Charles's  government 
were  pretty  much  the  same  in  both  countries. 
A  great  many  Scotchmen  came  to  York  while 
the  king  was  there,  and  the  people  from  all  the 
country  round  flocked  thither  too,  drawn  by  the 
gay  spectacles  connected  with  the  presence  of 
such  a  court  and  army.  The  Scotchmen  dis- 
seminated their  complaints  thus  among  the 
English  people,  and  finally  the  king  and  his 
council,  finding  indications  of  so  extensive  a 
disaffection,  had  a  form  of  an  oath  prepared, 
which  they  required  all  the  principal  persons  to 
take,  acknowledging  allegiance  to  Charles,  and 
renouncing  their  having  any  intelligence  or  cor- 
respondence with  the  enemy.  The  Scotchmen 
all  took  the  oath  very  readily,  though  some  of 
the  English  refused. 

At  any  rate,  the  state  of  things  was  not  such 
as  to  intimidate  the  Scotch,  and  lead  them,  as 
the  king  had  hoped,  to  sue  for  peace.  So  he 
concluded  to  move  on  toward  the  borders.     He 


1639.]  Archbishop    Laud.  153 

The  king's  march.  Artifice  of  the  Scots. 

went  to  Newcastle,  and  thence  to  Berwick. 
From  Berwick  he  moved  along  the  banks  of  the 
Tweed,  which  here  forms  the  boundary  between 
the  two  kingdoms,  and,  finding  a  suitable  place 
for  such  a  purpose,  the  king  had  his  royal  tent 
pitched,  and  his  army  encamped  around  him. 

Now,  as  King  Charles  had  undertaken  to  sub- 
due the  Scots  by  a  show  of  force,  it  seems  they 
concluded  to  defend  themselves  by  a  show  too, 
though  theirs  was  a  cheaper  and  more  simple 
contrivance  than  his.  They  advanced  with 
about  three  thousand  men  to  a  place  distant 
perhaps  seven  miles  from  the  English  camp. 
The  king  sent  an  army  of  five  thousand  men  to 
attack  them.  The  Scotch,  in  the  mean  time, 
collected  great  herds  of  cattle  from  all  the  coun- 
try around,  as  the  historians  say,  and  arranged 
them  behind  their  little  army  in  such  a  way 
as  to  make  the  whole  appear  a  vast  body  of 
soldiers.  A  troop  of  horsemen,  who  were  the 
advanced  part  of  the  English  army,  came  in 
sight  of  this  formidable  host  first,  and,  finding 
their  numbers  so  much  greater  than  they  had 
anticipated,  they  fell  back,  and  ordered  the  ar- 
tillery and  foot-soldiers  who  were  coming  up  to 
retreat,  and  all  together  came  back  to  the  en- 
campment. There  were  two  or  three  military 
11 


154 

King    Charles    I.             [1639. 

The  compromise. 

The  army  disbanded. 

enterprises  of  similar  character,  in  which  noth- 
ing was  done  but  to  encourage  the  Scotch  and 
dishearten  the  English.  In  fact,  neither  offi- 
cers, soldiers,  nor  king  wanted  to  proceed  to  ex- 
tremities. The  officers  and  soldiers  did  not 
wish  to  fight  the  Scotch,  and  the  king,  know- 
ing the  state  of  his  army,  did  not  really  dare  to 
do  it. 

Finally,  all  the  king's  council  advised  him  to 
give  up  the  pretended  contest,  and  to  settle  the 
difficulty  by  a  compromise.  Accordingly,  in 
June,  negotiations  were  commenced,  and  be- 
fore the  end  of  the  month  articles  were  signed. 
The  king  probably  made  the  best  terms  he 
could,  but  it  was  universally  considered  that 
the  Scots  gained  the  victory.  The  king  dis- 
banded his  army,  and  returned  to  London. 
The  Scotch  leaders  went  back  to  Edinburgh. 
Soon  after  this  the  Parliament  and  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Church  convened,  and  these 
bodies  took  the  whole  management  of  the  realm 
into  their  own  hands.  They  sent  commission- 
ers to  London  to  see  and  confer  with  the  king, 
and  these  commissioners  seemed  almost  to  as- 
sume the  character  of  embassadors  from  a  for- 
eign state.  These  negotiations,  and  the  course 
which  affairs  were  takins:  in  Scotland,  soon  led 


1639.]  Archbishop    Laud.  155 

The  king's  difficulties.  He  thinks  of  a  Parliament. 

to  new  difficulties.  The  king  found  that  he 
was  losing  his  kingdom  of  Scotland  altogether. 
It  seemed,  however,  as  if  there  was  nothing  that 
he  could  do  to  regain  it.  His  reserved  funds 
were  gone,  and  his  credit  was  exhausted. 
There  was  no  resource  left  but  to  call  a  Par- 
liament and  ask  for  supplies.  He  might  have 
known,  however,  that  this  would  be  useless,  for 
there  was  so  strong  a  fellow-feeling  with  the 
Scotch  in  their  alleged  grievances  among  the 
people  of  England,  that  he  could  not  reasonably 
expect  any  response  from  the  latter,  in  what- 
ever way  he  might  appeal  to  them. 


156  King    Charles    I.  [1621. 

The  Earl  of  Strafford.  His  early  life. 


Chapter  VII. 

The  Earl  of  Strafford. 

|~~\URINCt  the  time  that  the  king  had  been 
-*-'  engaged  in  the  attempt  to  govern  En- 
gland without  Parliaments,  he  had,  besides 
Laud,  a  very  efficient  co-operator,  known  in 
English  history  by  the  name  of  the  Earl  of 
Strafford.  This  title  of  Earl  of  Strafford  was 
conferred  upon  him  by  the  king  as  a  reward  for 
his  services.  His  father's  name  was  Went- 
worth.  He  was  born  in  London,  and  the 
Christian  name  given  to  him  was  Thomas. 
He  was  educated  at  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge, and  was  much  distinguished  for  his  tal- 
ents and  his  personal  accomplishments.  After 
finishing  his  education,  he  traveled  for  some 
time  on  the  Continent,  visiting  foreign  cities 
and  courts,  and  studying  the  languages,  man- 
ners, and  customs  of  other  nations.  He  return- 
ed at  length  to  England.  He  was  made  a 
knight.  His  father  died  when  he  was  about 
twenty-one,  and  left  him  a  large  fortune.  He 
was  about  seven  years  older  than  King  Charles, 


1621.]  The    Earl    of  Strafford.       157 

Strafford's  course  in  Parliament.  His  opposition  to  the  king. 

so  that  all  these  circumstances  took  place  be- 
fore the  commencement  of  Charles's  reign. 
For  many  years  after  this  he  was  very  exten- 
sively known  in  England  as  a  gentleman  of 
large  fortune  and  great  abilities,  by  the  name 
of  Sir  Thomas  Wentworth. 

Sir  Thomas  Wentworth  was  a  member  of 
Parliament  in  those  days,  and  in  the  contests 
between  the  king  and  the  Parliament  he  took 
the  side  of  Parliament.  Charles  used  to  main- 
tain that  his  power  alone  was  hereditary  and 
sovereign ;  that  the  Parliament  was  his  coun- 
cil ;  and  that  they  had  no  powers  or  privileges 
except  what  he  himself  or  his  ancestors  had 
granted  and  allowed  them.  "Wentworth  took 
very  strong  ground  against  this.  He  urged 
Parliament  to  maintain  that  their  rights  and 
privileges  were  inherent  and  hereditary  as  well 
as  those  of  the  king ;  that  such  powers  as  they 
possessed  were  their  own,  and  were  entirely  in- 
dependent of  royal  grant  or  permission  ;  and 
that  the  king  could  no  more  encroach  upon  the 
privileges  of  Parliament,  than  Parliament  upon 
the  prerogatives  of  the  king.  This  was  in  the 
beginning  of  the  difficulties  between  the  king 
and  the  Commons. 

It  will,  perhaps,  be  recollected  by  the  reader, 


158  King    Charles    I.  [1628 

The  loaders  removed.  The  opposition  still  continues. 

that  one  of  the  plans  which  Charles  adopted  to 
weaken  the  opposition  to  him  in  Parliament 
was  by  appointing  six  of  the  leaders  of  this  op- 
position to  the  office  of  sheriff  in  their  several 
counties.  And  as  the  general  theory  of  all 
monarchies  is  that  the  subjects  are  bound  to 
obey  and  serve  the  king,  these  men  were  oblig- 
ed to  leave  their  seats  in  Parliament  and  go 
home,  to  serve  as  sheriffs.  Charles  and  his 
council  supposed  that  the  rest  would  be  more 
quiet  and  submissive  when  the  leaders  of  the 
party  opposed  to  him  were  taken  away.  But 
the  effect  was  the  reverse.  The  Commons 
were  incensed  at  such  a  mode  of  interfering 
with  their  action,  and  became  more  hostile  to 
the  royal  power  than  ever. 

Wentworth  himself,  too,  was  made  more  de- 
termined in  his  opposition  by  this  treatment. 
A  short  time  after  this,  the  king's  plan  of  a 
forced  loan  was  adopted,  which  has  already 
been  described ;  that  is,  a  sum  of  money  was 
assessed  in  the  manner  of  a  tax  upon  all  the 
people  of  the  kingdom,  and  each  man  was  re- 
quired to  lend  his  proportion  to  the  government. 
The  king  admitted  that  he  had  no  right  to 
make  people  give  money  without  the  action  of 
Parliament,  but  claimed  the  right  to  require 


1628.]  T he    Earl,    of    Steaffoe d.      159 

Wentworth  imprisoned.  His  return  to  Parliament. 

them  to  lend  it.  As  Sir  Thomas  Wentworth 
was  a  man  of  large  fortune,  his  share  of  the 
loan  was  considerable.  He  absolutely  refused 
to  pay  it.  The  king  had  him  brought  before  a 
court  which  was  entirely  under  his  influence, 
and  he  was  condemned  to  be  imprisoned. 
Knowing,  however,  that  this  claim  on  the  part 
of  the  king  was  very  doubtful,  they  mitigated 
his  confinement  by  allowing  him  first  a  range 
of  two  miles  around  his  place  of  confinement, 
and  afterward  they  released  him  entirely. 

He  was  chosen  a  member  of  Parliament 
again,  and  he  returned  to  his  seat  more  power- 
ful and  influential  than  ever.  Buckingham, 
who  had  been  his  greatest  enemy,  was  now 
dead,  and  the  king,  finding  that  he  had  great 
abilities  and  a  spirit  that  would  not  yield  to  in- 
timidation or  force,  concluded  to  try  kindness 
and  favors. 

In  fact,  there  are  two  different  modes  by 
which  sovereigns  in  all  ages  and  countries  en- 
deavor to  neutralize  the  opposition  of  popular 
leaders.  One  is  by  intimidating  them  with 
threats  and  punishments,  and  the  other  buying 
them  off  with  appointments  and  honors.  Some 
of  the  king's  high  officers  of  state  began  to  cul- 
tivate the  acquaintance  of  Wentworth,  and  to 


160  King   Charles    I.  [1628. 

Wentworth  is  courted.  He  goes  over  to  the  king. 

pay  him  attentions  and  civilities.  He  could 
not  but  feel  gratified  with  these  indications  of 
their  regard.  They  complimented  his  talents 
and  his  powers,  and  represented  to  him  that 
such  abilities  ought  to  be  employed  in  the  serv- 
ice of  the  state.  Finally,  the  king  conferred 
upon  him  the  title  of  baron.  Common  grati- 
tude for  these  marks  of  distinction  and  honor 
held  him  back  from  any  violent  opposition  to 
the  king.  His  enemies  said  he  was  bought  off 
by  honors  and  rewards.  No  doubt  he  was  am- 
bitious, and,  like  all  other  politicians,  his  su- 
preme motive  was  love  of  consideration  and 
honor.  This  was  doubtless  his  motive  in  what 
he  had  done  in  behalf  of  the  Parliament.  But 
all  that  he  could  do  as  a  popular  leader  in  Par- 
liament was  to  acquire  a  general  ascendency 
over  men's  minds,  and  make  himself  a  subject 
of  fame  and  honor.  All  places  of  real  authori- 
ty were  exclusively  under  the  king's  control, 
and  he  could  only  rise  to  such  stations  through 
the  sovereign's  favor.  In  a  word,  he  could  ac- 
quire only  influence  as  a  leader  in  Parlia- 
ment, while  the  king  could  give  him  power. 

Kings  have  always,  accordingly,  a  great  con- 
trol over  the  minds  of  legislators  by  offering 
them  office ;  and  King  Charles,  after  finding 


1628.]  The    Earl    of    Strafford.      161 

The  king  appoints  Wentworth  to  office. 

that  his  first  advances  to  Wentworth  were  fa- 
vorably received,  appointed  him  one  of  his  Privy 
Council.  Wentworth  accepted  the  office.  His 
former  friends  considered  that  in  doing  this  he 
was  deserting  them,  and,  betraying  the  cause 
which  he  had  at  first  espoused  and  defended. 
The  country  at  large  were  much  displeased 
with  him,  finding  that  he  had  forsaken  their 
cause,  and  placed  himself  in  a  position  to  act 
against  them. 

Persons  who  change  sides  in  politics  or  in 
religion  are  very  apt  to  go  from  one  extreme  to 
another.  Their  former  friends  revile  them,  and 
they,  in  retaliation,  act  more  and  more  ener- 
getically against  them.  It  was  so  with  Straf- 
ford. He  gradually  engaged  more  and  more 
fully  and  earnestly  in  upholding  the  king. 
Finally,  the  king  appointed  him  to  a  very  high 
station,  called  the  Presidency  of  the  North. 
His  office  was  to  govern  the  whole  north  of  En- 
gland— of  course,  under  the  direction  of  the 
king  and  council.  There  were  four  counties 
under  his  jurisdiction,  and  the  king  gave  him 
a  commission  which  clothed  him  with  enor- 
mous powers — powers  greater,  as  all  the  peo-, 
pie  thought,  than  the  king  had  any  right  to  be- 
stow. 


162  King    Charles    I.  [1628. 

Wentworth  is  appointed  President  of  the  North. 

Strafford  proceeded  to  the  north,  and  entered 
upon  the  government  of  his  realm  there,  with 
a  determination  to  carry  out  all  the  king's 
plans  to  the  utmost.  From  being  an  ardent 
advocate  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  as  he  was 
at  the  commencement  of  his  career,  he  became 
a  most  determined  and  uncompromising  sup- 
porter of  the  arbitrary  power  of  the  king.  He 
insisted  on  the  collection  of  money  from  the 
people  in  all  the  ways  that  the  king  claimed 
the  power  to  collect  it  by  authority  of  his  pre- 
rogative ;  and  he  was  so  strict  and  exacting  in 
doing  this,  that  he  raised  the  revenue  to  four 
or  five  times  what  any  of  his  predecessors  had 
been  able  to  collect.  This,  of  course,  pleased 
King  Charles  and  his  government  extremely ; 
for  it  was  at  a  time  during  which  the  king  was 
attempting  to  govern  without  a  Parliament, 
and  every  accession  to  his  funds  was  of  ex- 
treme importance.  Laud,  too,  the  archbishop, 
was  extremely  pleased  with  his  exertions  and 
his  success,  and  the  king  looked  upon  Laud 
and  Wentworth  as  the  two  most  efficient  sup- 
porters of  his  power.  They  were,  in  fact,  the 
two  most  efficient  promoters  of  his  destruction. 

Of  course,  the  people  of  the  north  hated  him. 
"While  he  was  earning  the  applause  of  the  arch- 


1632.]  The    Earl    of    Strafford.      163 

Wentworth  appointed  to  the  government  of  Ireland. 

bishop  and  the  king,  and  entitling  himself  to 
new  honors  and  increased  power,  he  was  sow- 
ing the  seeds  of  the  bitterest  animosity  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people  every  where.  Still  he  en- 
joyed all  the  external  marks  of  consideration 
and  honor.  The  President  of  the  North  was  a 
sort  of  king.  He  was  clothed  with  great  pow- 
ers, and  lived  in  great  state  and  splendor.  He 
had  many  attendants,  and  the  great  nobles  of 
the  land,  who  generally  took  Charles's  side  in 
the  contests  of  the  day,  envied  Wentworth's 
greatness  and  power,  and  applauded  the  energy 
and  success  of  his  administration. 

Ireland  was,  at  this  time,  in  a  disturbed  and 
disordered  state,  and  Laud  proposed  that  Went- 
worth should  be  appointed  by  the  king  to  the 
government  of  it.  A  great  proportion  of  the 
inhabitants  were  Catholics,  arid  were  very  little 
disposed  to  submit  to  Protestant  rule.  "Went- 
worth was  appointed  lord  deputy,  and  after- 
ward lord  lieutenant,  which  made  him  king 
of  Ireland  in  all  but  the  name.  Every  thing, 
of  course,  was  done  in  the  name  of  Charles. 
He  carried  the  same  energy  into  his  govern- 
ment here  that  he  had  exhibited  in  the  north 
of  England.  He  improved  the  condition  of  the 
country  astonishingly  in  respect  to  trade,  to 


164  King   Charles   I.  [1632. 

Wentworth's  arbitrary  government  He  is  made  an  earl. 

revenue,  and  to  public  order.  But  he  governed 
in  the  most  arbitrary  manner,  and  he  boasted 
that  he  had  rendered  the  king  as  absolute  a 
sovereign  in  Ireland  as  any  prince  in  the  world 
could  be.  Such  a  boast  from  a  man  who  had 
once  been  a  very  prominent  defender  of  the 
rights  of  the  people  against  this  very  kind  of 
sovereignty,  was  fitted  to  produce  a  feeling  of 
universal  exasperation  and  desire  of  revenge. 
The  murmurs  and  muttered  threats  which 
filled  the  land,  though  suppressed,  were  very 
deep  and  very  strong. 

The  king,  however,  and  Laud,  considered 
Wentworth  as  their  most  able  and  efficient  co- 
adjutor ;  and  when  the  difficulties  in  Scotland 
began  to  grow  serious,  they  recalled  him  from 
Ireland,  and  put  that  country  into  the  hands  of 
another  ruler.  The  king  then  advanced  him 
to  the  rank  of  an  earl.  His  title  was  the  Earl 
of  Strafford.  As  the  subsequent  parts  of  his 
history  attracted  more  attention  than  those 
preceding  his  elevation  to  this  earldom,  he  has 
been  far  more  widely  known  among  mankind 
by  the  name  of  Strafford  than  by  his  original 
name  of  Wentworth,  which  was,  from  this  pe- 
riod, nearly  forgotten. 

To  return  now  to  the  troubles  in  Scotland 


1640.]  The    Earl    of    Strafford.      165 


Laud's  administration  of  his  office. 


The  king  found  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
go  on  without  supplies,  and  he  accordingly  con- 
cluded, on  the  whole,  to  call  a  Parliament. 
He  was  in  serious  trouble.  Laud  was  in  seri- 
ous trouble  too.  He  had  been  indefatigably 
engaged  for  many  years  in  establishing  Epis- 
copacy all  over  England,  and  in  putting  down, 
by  force  of  law,  all  disposition  to  dissent  from 
it ;  and  in  attempting  to  produce,  throughout 
the  realm,  one  uniform  system  of  Christian 
faith  and  worship.  This  was  his  idea  of  the 
perfection  of  religious  order  and  right.  He 
used  to  make  an  annual  visitation  to  all  the 
bishoprics  in  the  realm ;  inquire  into  the  usages 
which  prevailed  there ;  put  a  stop,  so  far  as  he 
could,  to  all  irregularities  ;  and  confirm  and 
establish,  by  the  most  decisive  measures,  the 
Episcopal  authority.  He  sent  in  his  report  to 
the  king  of  the  results  of  his  inquiries,  asking 
the  king's  aid,  where  his  own  powers  were  in- 
sufficient, for  the  more  full  accomplishment  of 
his  plans.  But,  notwithstanding  all  this  dili- 
gence and  zeal,  he  found  that  he  met  with  very 
partial  success.  The  irregularities,  as  he  call- 
ed them,  which  he  suppressed  in  one  place, 
would  break  out  in  another  ;  the  disposition  to 
throw  off  the  dominion  of  bishops  was  getting 


166  King    Charles    I.  [1640. 

Defense  of  Episcopacy.  Progress  of  nonconformity. 

more  and  more  extensive  and  deeply  seated ; 
and  now,  the  result  of  the  religious  revolution 
in  Scotland,  and  of  the  general  excitement 
which  it  produced  in  England,  was  to  widen 
and  extend  this  feeling  more  than  ever. 

He  did  not,  however,  give  up  the  contest. 
He  employed  an  able  writer  to  draw  up  a  de- 
fense of  Episcopacy,  as  the  true  and  scriptural 
form  of  Church  government.  The  book,  when 
first  prepared,  was  moderate  in  its  tone,  and  al- 
lowed that  in  some  particular  cases  a  Presby- 
terian mode  of  government  might  be  admissi- 
ble ;  but  Laud,  in  revising  the  book,  struck  out 
these  concessions  as  unnecessary  and  danger- 
ous, and  placed  Episcopacy  in  full  and  exclu- 
sive possession  of  the  ground,  as  the  divinely 
instituted  and  only  admissible  form  of  Church 
government  and  discipline.  He  caused  this 
book  to  be  circulated ;  but  the  attempt  to  rea- 
son with  the  refractory,  after  having  failed  in 
the  attempt  to  coerce  them,  is  not  generally 
very  successful.  The  archbishop,  in  his  report 
to  the  king  this  year  of  the  state  of  things 
throughout  his  province,  represents  the  spirit 
of  non-conformity  to  the  Church  of  England  as 
getting  too  strong  for  him  to  control  without 
more  efficient  help  from  the  civil  power ;  but 


1640.]  The    Earl    of    Strafford.      167 

A  Parliament  called.  Strafford  appointed  commander-in-chief. 

whether  it  would  be  wise,  he  added,  to  under- 
take any  more  effectual  coercion  in  the  present 
distracted  state  of  the  kingdom,  he  left  it  for 
the  king  to  decide. 

Laud  proposed  that  the  council  should  rec- 
ommend to  the  king  the  calling  of  a  Parlia- 
ment. At  the  same  time,  they  passed  a  resolu- 
tion that,  in  case  the  Parliament  "  should  prove 
peevish,  and  refuse  to  grant  supplies^  they  would 
sustain  the  king  in  the  resort  to  extraordinary 
measures."  This  was  regarded  as  a  threat, 
and  did  not  help  to  prepossess  the  members  fa- 
vorably in  regard  to  the  feeling  with  which  the 
king  was  to  meet  them.  The  king  ordered  the 
Parliament  to  be  elected  in  December,  but  did 
not  call  them  together  until  April.  In  the 
mean  time,  he  went  on  raising  an  army,  so  as 
to  have  his  military  preparations  in  readiness. 
He,  however,  appointed  a  new  set  of  officers  to 
the  command  of  this  army,  neglecting  those 
who  were  in  command  before,  as  he  had  found 
them  so  little  disposed  to  act  efficiently  in  his 
cause.  He  supplied  the  leader's  place  with 
Strafford.  This  change  produced  very  exten- 
sive murmurs  of  dissatisfaction,  which,  added 
to  all  the  other  causes  of  complaint,  made  the 
times  look  very  dark  and  stormy. 


168  King    Charles   I  [1640. 

Meeting  of  Parliament.  The  king's  speech. 

The  Parliament  assembled  in  April.  The 
king  went  into  the  House  of  Lords,  the  Com- 
mons being,  as  usual,  summoned  to  the  bar. 
He  addressed  them  as  follows : 


"My  Lords  and  gentlemen,  —  There  was 
never  a  King  who  had  a  more  great  and  weigh- 
ty Cause  to  call  his  People  together  than  my- 
self. I  will  not  trouble  you  with  the  particu- 
lars. I  have  informed  my  Lord  keeper,  and 
now  command  him  to  speak,  and  I  desire  your 
Attention." 

The  keeper  referred  to  was  the  keeper  of  the 
king's  seals,  who  was,  of  course,  a  great  officer 
of  state.  He  made  a  speech,  informing  the 
houses,  in  general  terms,  of  the  king's  need  of 
money,  but  said  that  it  was  not  necessary  for 
him  to  explain  minutely  the  monarch's  plans, 
as  they  were  exclusively  his  own  concern. 
We  may  as  well  quote  his  words,  in  order  to 
show  in  what  light  the  position  and  province  of 
a  British  Parliament  was  considered  in  those 
days. 

"  His  majesty's  kingly  resolutions,"  said  the 
lord  keeper,  "  are  seated  in  the  ark  of  his  sa- 


1640.]  The    Earl    of    Strafford.      169 


Address  of  the  lord  keeper. 


cred  breast,  and  it  were  a  presumption  of  too 
high  a  nature  for  any  Uzzah  uncalled  to  touch 
it.  Yet  his  Majesty  is  now  pleased  to  lay  by 
the  shining  Beams  of  Majesty,  as  Phoebus  did 
to  Phaeton,  that  the  distance  between  Sover- 
eignty and  Subjection  should  not  bar  you  of 
that  filial  freedom  of  Access  to  his  Person  and 
Counsels ;  only  let  us  beware  how,  with  the 
Son  of  Clymene,  we  aim  not  at  the  guiding  of 
the  Chariot,  as  if  that  were  the  only  Testimony 
of  Fatherly  Affection ;  and  let  us  remember, 
that  though  the  King  sometimes  lays  by  the 
Beams  and  Rays  of  Majesty,  he  never  lays  by 
Majesty  itself." 

When  the  keeper  had  finished  his  speech,  the 
king  confirmed  it  by  saying  that  he  had  exag- 
gerated nothing,  and  the  houses  were  left  to 
their  deliberations.  Instead  of  proceeding  to 
the  business  of  raising  money,  they  commenced 
an  inquiry  into  the  grievances,  as  they  called 
them — that  is,  all  the  unjust  acts  and  the  mal- 
administration of  the  government,  of  which  the 
country  had  been  complaining  for  the  ten  years 
during  which  there  had  been  an  intermission 
of  Parliaments.  The  king  did  all  in  his  power 
to  arrest  this  course  of  procedure.  He  sent 
12 


170      •  King   Charles   I.  [1640. 

Messages.  Parliament  dissolved. 

them  message  after  message,  urging  them  to 
leave  these  things,  and  take  up  first  the  ques- 
tion of  supplies.  He  then  sent  a  message  to 
the  House  of  Peers,  requesting  them  to  inter- 
pose, and  exert  their  influence  to  lead  the  Com- 
mons to  act.  The  Peers  did  so.  The  Com- 
mons sent  them  back  a  reply  that  their  inter- 
ference in  the  business  of  supply,  which  be- 
longed to  the  Commons  alone,  was  a  breach  of 
their  privileges.  "  And,"  they  added,  "therefore, 
the  Commons  desire  their  lordships  in  their 
wisdom  to  find  out  some  way  for  the  reparation 
of  their  privileges  broken  by  that  act,  and  to 
prevent  the  like  infringement  in  future." 

Thus  repulsed  on  every  hand,  the  king  gave 
up  the  hope  of  accomplishing  any  thing  through 
the  action  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  he 
suddenly  determined  to  dissolve  Parliament. 
The  session  had  continued  only  about  three 
weeks.  In  dissolving  the  Parliament  the  king 
took  no  notice  of  the  Commons  whatever,  but 
addressed  the  Lords  alone.  The  Commons  and 
the  whole  country  were  incensed  at  such  ca- 
pricious treatment  of  the  national  Legislature. 

The  king  and  his  council  tried  all  summer 
to  get  the  army  ready  to  be  put  in  motion. 
The  great  difficulty,  of  course,  was  want  of 


1640.]  The    Earl    of    Strafford.      171 

The  Scots  cross  the  borders  and  invade  England. 

funds.  The  Convocation,  which  was  the  great 
council  of  the  Church,  and  which  was  accus- 
tomed in  those  days  to  sit  simultaneously  with 
Parliament,  continued  their  session  afterward 
in  this  case,  and  raised  some  money  for  the 
king.  The  nobles  of  the  court  subscribed  a 
considerable  amount,  also,  which  they  lent  him. 
They  wanted  to  sustain  him  in  his  contest 
with  the  Commons  on  their  own  account,  and 
then,  besides,  they  felt  a  personal  interest  in 
him,  and  a  sympathy  for  him  in  the  troubles 
which  were  thickening  around  him. 

The  summer  months  passed  away  in  making 
the  preparations  and  getting  the  various  bodies 
of  troops  ready,  and  the  military  stores  collect- 
ed at  the  place  of  rendezvous  in  York  and  New- 
castle. The  Scots,  in  the  mean  time,  had  been 
assembling  their  forces  near  the  borders,  and, 
being  somewhat  imboldened  by  their  success  in 
the  previous  campaign,  crossed  the  frontier,  and 
advanced  boldly  to  meet  the  forces  of  the  king. 

They  published  a  manifesto,  declaring  that 
they  were  not  entering  England  with  any  hos- 
tile intent  toward  their  sovereign,  but  were 
only  coming  to  present  to  him  their  humble  pe- 
titions for  a  redress  of  their  grievances,  which 
they  said  they  were  sure  he  would  graciously 


172  King   Charles   I.  [1640. 

March  of  the  Scots.  The  king  goes  to  York. 

receive  as  soon  as  he  had  opportunity  to  learn 
from  them  how  great  their  grievances  had  been. 
They  respectfully  requested  that  the  people  of 
England  would  allow  them  to  pass  safely  and 
without  molestation  through  the  land,  and 
promised  to  conduct  themselves  with  the  ut- 
most propriety  and  decorum.  This  promise 
they  kept.  They  avoided  molesting  the  inhabi- 
tants in  any  way,  and  purchased  fairly  every 
thing  they  consumed.  When  the  English  offi- 
cers learned  that  the  Scotch  had  crossed  the 
Tweed,  they  sent  on  immediately  to  London, 
to  the  king,  urging  him  to  come  north  at  once, 
and  join  the  army,  with  all  the  remaining  for- 
ces at  his  command.  The  king  did  so,  but  it 
was  too  late.  He  arrived  at  York  ;  from  York 
he  went  northward  to  reach  the  van  of  his 
army,  which  had  been  posted  at  Newcastle,  but 
on  his  way  he  was  met  by  messengers  saying 
that  they  were  in  full  retreat,  and  that  the 
Scotch  had  got  possession  of  Newcastle. 

The  circumstances  of  the  battle  were  these. 
Newcastle  is  upon  the  Tyne.  The  banks  at 
Newcastle  are  steep  and  high,  but  about  four 
miles  above  the  town  is  a  place  called  Newburn, 
where  was  a  meadow  near  the  river,  and  a  con- 
venient place  to  cross.     The  Scotch  advanced 


1640.]  The    Earl    of    Strafford.      173 

Defeat  of  the  English.  Perplexities  and  dangers. 

in  a  very  slow  and  orderly  manner  to  Newburn, 
and  encamped  there.  The  English  sent  a  de- 
tachment from  Newcastle  to  arrest  their  prog- 
ress. The  Scotch  begged  them  not  to  inter- 
rupt their  march,  as  they  were  only  going  to 
•present  petitions  to  the  king  I  The  English 
general,  of  course,  paid  no  attention  to  this  pre- 
text. The  Scotch  army  then  attacked  them, 
and  soon  put  them  to  flight.  The  routed  En- 
glish soldiers  fled  to  Newcastle,  and  were  there 
joined  by  all  that  portion  of  the  army  which 
was  in  Newcastle  in  a  rapid  retreat.  The 
Scotch  took  possession  of  the  town,  but  con- 
ducted themselves  in  a  very  orderly  manner, 
and  bought  and  paid  for  every  thing  they  used. 

The  poor  king  was  now  in  a  situation  of  the 
most  imminent  and  terrible  danger.  Rebel 
subjects  had  got  full  possession  of  one  kingdom, 
and  were  now  advancing  at  the  head  of  victo- 
rious armies  into  the  other.  He  himself  had 
entirely  alienated  the  affections  of  a  large  por- 
tion of  his  subjects,  and  had  openly  quarreled 
with  and  dismissed  the  Legislature.  He  had 
no  funds,  and  had  exhausted  all  possible  means 
of  raising  funds.  He  was  half  distracted  with 
the  perplexities  and  dangers  of  his  position. 

His  deciding  on  dissolving  Parliament  in  the 


174  King   Charles    I.  [1640. 

The  king  calls  a  council  of  peers.  Message  from  the  Scots. 

spring  was  a  hasty  step,  and  he  bitterly  regret- 
ted it  the  moment  the  deed  was  done.  He 
wanted  to  recall  it.  He  deliberated  several 
days  about  the  possibility  of  summoning  the 
same  members  to  meet  again,  and  constituting 
them  again  a  Parliament.  But  the  lawyers 
insisted  that  this  could  not  be  done.  A  disso- 
lution was  a  dissolution.  The  Parliament,  once 
dissolved,  was  no  more.  It  could  not  be  brought 
to  life  again.  There  must  be  new  orders  to 
the  country  to  proceed  to  new  elections.  To 
do  this  at  once  would  have  been  too  humili- 
ating for  the  king.  He  now  found,  however, 
that  the  necessity  for  it  could  no  longer  be  post- 
poned. There  was  such  a  thing  in  the  En- 
glish history  as  a  council  of  peers  alone,  called 
in  a  sudden  emergency  which  did  not  allow  of 
time  for  the  elections  necessary  to  constitute 
the  House  of  Commons.  Charles  called  such 
a  council  of  peers  to  meet  at  York,  and  they 
immediately  assembled. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Scotch  sent  embassa- 
dors to  York,  saying  to  the  king  that  they 
were  advancing  to  lay  their  grievances  before 
him !  They  expressed  great  sorrow  and  regret 
at  the  victory  which  they  had  been  compelled 
to  gain  over  some  forces  that  had  attempted  to 


1640.]  The    Earl    of    Strafford.      175 

The  king  compromises  with  the  Scots.  Opposition  of  Strafford. 

prevent  them  from  getting  access  to  their' sov- 
ereign. The  king  laid  this  communication  be- 
fore the  lords,  and  asked  their  advice  what  to 
do ;  and  also  asked  them  to  counsel  him  how 
he  should  provide  funds  to  keep  his  army  to- 
gether until  a  Parliament  could  be  convened. 
The  lords  advised  him  to  appoint  commission- 
ers to  meet  the  Scotch,  and  endeavor  to  com- 
promise the  difficulties  ;  and  to  send  to  the  city 
of  London,  asking  that  corporation  to  lend  him 
a  small  sum  until  Parliament  could  be  assem- 
bled. 

This  advice  was  followed.  A  temporary 
treaty  was  made  with  the  rebels,  although 
making  a  treaty  with  rebels  is  perhaps  the 
most  humiliating  thing  that  a  hereditary  sov- 
ereign is  ever  compelled  to  do.  The  Earl  of 
Strafford  was,  however,  entirely  opposed  to 
this  policy.  He  urged  the  king  most  earnest- 
ly not  to  give  up  the  contest  without  a  more 
decisive  struggle.  He  represented  to  him  the 
danger  of  beginning  to  yield  to  the  torrent 
which  he  now  began  to  see  would  overwhelm 
them  all  if  it  was  allowed  to  have  its  way. 
He  tried  to  persuade  the  king  that  the  Scots 
might  yet  be  driven  back,  and  that  it  would  be 
possible  to   get  along  without  a  Parliament. 


176  King   Charles   I.  [1640. 

Strafford  desires  to  return  to  Ireland.     The  king's  promised  protection. 

He  dreaded  a  Parliament.  The  king,  however, 
and  his  other  advisers,  thought  that  they  must 
yield  a  little  to  the  storm.  Strafford  then 
wanted  to  be  allowed  to  return  to  his  post  In 
Ireland,  where  he  thought  that  he  should  prob- 
ably be  safe  from  the  terrible  enmity  which  he 
must  have  known  that  he  had  awakened  in  En- 
gland, and  which  he  thought  a  Parliament 
would  concentrate  and  bring  upon  his  devoted 
head.  But  the  king  would  not  consent  to  this. 
He  assured  Strafford  that  if  a  Parliament 
should  assemble,  he  would  take  care  that  they 
should  not  hurt  a  hair  of  his  head.  Unfortu- 
nate monarch  !  How  little  he  foresaw  that 
that  very  Parliament,  from  whose  violence  he 
thus  promised  to  defend  his  favorite  servant  so 
completely  as  to  insure  him  from  the  slightest 
injury,  would  begin  by  taking  off  his  favorite's 
head,  and  end  with  taking:  off  his  own  ! 


1640.]  Strafford  and  Laud's  End.  177 


Opening  of  the  new  Parliament. 


Chapter    VIII. 

Downfall  of  Strafford  and  Laud. 

rilHE  Parliament  assembled  in  November, 
-*-  1640.  The  king  proceeded  to  London  to 
meet  them.  He  left  Strafford  in  command  of 
the  army  at  York.  Active  hostilities  had  been 
suspended,  as  a  sort  of  temporary  truce  had 
been  concluded  with  the  Scots,  to  prepare  the 
way  for  a  final  treaty.  Strafford  had  been  en- 
tirely opposed  to  this,  being  still  full  of  energy 
and  courage.  The  king,  however,  began  to 
feel  alarmed.  He  went  to  London  to  meet  the 
Parliament  which  he  had  summoned,  but  he 
was  prepared  to  meet  them  in  a  very  different 
spirit  from  that  which  he  had  manifested  on 
former  occasions.  He  even  gave  up  all  the  ex- 
ternal circumstances  of  pomp  and  parade  with 
which  the  opening  of  Parliament  had  usually 
been  attended.  He  had  been  accustomed  to  go 
to  the  House  of  Lords  in  state,  with  a  numer- 
ous retinue  and  great  parade.  Now  he  was 
conveyed  from  his  palace  along  the  river  in  a 
barge,  in  a  quiet  and  unostentatious  manner. 


178  King   Charles  I.  [1640. 

The  king's  speech.  Attacks  on  Strafford  and  Laud. 

His  opening  speech,  too,  was  moderate  and 
conciliatory.  In  a  word,  it  was  pretty  evident 
to  the  Commons  that  the  proud  and  haughty 
spirit  of  their  royal  master  was  beginning  to 
be  pretty  effectually  humbled. 

Of  course,  now,  in  proportion  as  the  king 
.should  falter,  the  Commons  would  grow  bold. 
The  House  immediately  began  to  attack  Laud 
and  Strafford  in  their  speeches.  It  is  the  the- 
ory of  the  British  Constitution  that  the  king 
can  do  no  wrong ;  whatever  criminality  at  any 
time  attaches  to  the  acts  of  his  administration, 
belongs  to  his  advisers,  not  to  himself.  The 
speakers  condemned,  in  most  decided  terms,  the 
arbitrary  and  tyrannical  course  which  the  gov- 
ernment had  pursued  during  the  intermission 
of  Parliaments,  but  charged  it  all,  not  to  the 
king,  but  to  Strafford  and  Laud.  Strafford 
had  been,  as  they  considered,  the  responsible 
person  in  civil  and  military  affairs,  and  Laud 
in  those  of  the  Church.  These  speeches  were 
made  to  try  the  temper  of  the  House  and  of  the 
country,  and  see  whether  there  was  hostility 
enough  to  Laud  and  Strafford  in  the  House  and 
in  the  country,  and  boldness  enough  in  the  ex- 
pression of  it,  to  warrant  their  impeachment. 

The  attacks  thus  made  in  the  House  against 


1640.]  Strafford  and  Laud's  End.  179 

Speeches  against  them.  Feelings  of  hostility. 

the  two  ministers  were  made  very  soon.  With- 
in a  week  after  the  opening  of  Parliament,  one 
of  the  members,  after  declaiming  a  long  time 
against  the  encroachments  and  tyranny  of 
Archbishop  Laud,  whose  title,  according  to  En- 
glish usage,  was  "his  Grace,"  said  he  hoped 
that,  before  the  year  ran  round,  his  grace  would 
either  have  more  grace  or  no  grace  at  all ; 
"  for,"  he  added,  "  our  manifold  griefs  do  fill  a 
mighty  and  vast  circumference,  yet  in  such  a 
manner  that  from  every  part  our  lines  of  sor- 
row do  meet  in  him,  and  point  at  him  the  cen- 
ter, from  whence  our  miseries  in  this  Church, 
and  many  of  them  in  the  Commonwealth,  do 
flow."  He  said,  also,  that  if  they  must  submit 
to  a  pope,  he  would  rather  obey  one  that  was 
as  far  off  as  the  Tiber,  than  to  have  him  come 
as  near  as  the  Thames. 

Similar  denunciations  were  made  against 
Strafford,  and  they  awakened  no  opposition. 
On  the  contrary,  it  was  found  that  the  feeling 
of  hostility  against  both  the  ministers  was  so 
universal  and  so  strong,  that  the  leaders  began 
to  think  seriously  of  an  impeachment  on  a 
charge  of  high  treason.  High  treason  is  the 
greatest  crime  known  to  the  English  law,  and 
the  punishment  for  it,  especially  in  the  case  of 


180  King   Charles   I.  [1640. 

Bill  of  attainder.  Mode  of  proceeding. 

a  peer  of  the  realm,  is  very  terrible.  This  pun- 
ishment was  generally  inflicted  by  what  was 
called  a  bill  of  attainder,  which  brought  with  it 
the  worst  of  penalties.  It  implied  the  perfect 
destruction  of  the  criminal  in  every  sense.  He 
was  to  lose  his  life  by  having  his  head  cut  off 
upon  a  block.  His  body,  according  to  the  strict 
letter  of  the  law,  was  to  be  mutilated  in  a  man- 
ner too  shocking  to  be  here  described.  His 
children  were  disinherited,  and  his  property  all 
forfeited.  This  was  considered  as  the  conse- 
quence of  the  attainting  of  the  blood,  which  ren- 
dered it  corrupt,  and  incapable  of  transmitting 
an  inheritance.  In  fact,  it  was  the  intention  of 
the  bill  of  attainder  to  brand  the  wretched  ob- 
ject of  it  with  complete  and  perpetual  infamy. 
The  proceedings,  too,  in  the  impeachment 
and  trial  of  a  high  minister  of  state,  were  al- 
ways very  imposing  and  solemn.  The  im- 
peachment must  be  moved  by  the  Commons, 
and  tried  by  the  Peers.  A  peer  of  the  realm 
could  be  tried  by  no  inferior  tribunal.  When 
the  Commons  proposed  bringing  articles  of  im- 
peachment against  an  officer  of  state,  they  sent 
first  a  messenger  to  the  House  of  Peers  to  ask 
them  to  arrest  the  person  whom  they  intended 
to  accuse,  and  to  hold  him  for  trial  until  they 


1640.]  Strafford  and  Laud's  End.  181 


Proceedings  against  Strafford. 


should  have  their  articles  prepared.  The  House 
of  Peers  would  comply  with  this  request,  and  a 
time  would  be  appointed  for  the  trial.  The 
Commons  would  frame  the  charges,  and  ap- 
point a  certain  number  of  their  members  to 
manage  the  prosecution.  They  would  collect 
evidence,  and  get  every  thing  ready  for  the 
trial.  "When  the  time  arrived,  the  chamber  of 
the  House  of  Peers  would  be  arranged  as  a 
court  room,  or  they  would  assemble  in  some 
other  hall  more  suitable  for  the  purpose,  the 
prisoner  would  be  brought  to  the  bar,  the  com- 
missioners on  the  part  of  the  Commons  would 
appear  with  their  documents  and  their  evi- 
dence, persons  of  distinction  would  assemble  to 
listen  to  the  proceedings,  and  the  trial  would 
go  on. 

It  was  in  accordance  with  this  routine  that 
the  Commons  commenced  proceedings  against 
the  Earl  of  Strafford,  very  soon  after  the  open- 
ing of  the  session,  by  appointing  a  committee 
to  inquire  whether  there  was  any  just  cause  to 
accuse  him  of  treason.  The  committee  report- 
ed to  the  House  that  there  was  just  cause.  The 
House  then  appointed  a  messenger  to  go  to  the 
House  of  Lords,  saying  that  they  had  found 
that  there  was  just  cause  to  accuse  the  Earl  of 


182  King    Charles   I.  [1640. 

Arrest  of  Strafford.  Usher  of  the  black  rod. 

Strafford  of  high  treason,  and  to  ask  that  they 
would  sequester  him  from  the  House,  as  the 
phrase  was,  and  hold  him  in  custody  till  they 
could  prepare  the  charges  and  the  evidence 
against  him.  All  these  proceedings  were  in  se- 
cret session,  in  order  that  Strafford  might  not 
get  warning  and  fly.  The  Commons  then 
nearly  all  accompanied  their  messenger  to  the 
House  of  Lords,  to  show  how  much  in  earnest 
they  were.  The  Lords  complied  with  the  re- 
quest. They  caused  the  earl  to  be  arrested  and 
committed  to  the  charge  of  the  usher  of  the 
black  rod,  and  sent  two  officers  to  the  Com- 
mons to  inform  them  that  they  had  done  so. 

The  usher  of  the  black  rod  is  a  very  import- 
ant officer  of  the  House  of  Lords.  He  is  a  sort 
of  sheriff,  to  execute  the  various  behests  of  the 
House,  having  officers  to  serve  under  him  for 
this  purpose.  The  badge  of  his  office  has  been, 
for  centuries,  a  black  rod  with  a  golden  lion  at 
the  upper  end,  which  is  borne  before  him  as 
the  emblem  of  his  authority.  A  peer  of  the 
realm,  when  charged  with  treason,  is  committed 
to  the  custody  of  this  officer.  In  this  case  he 
took  the  Earl  of  Strafford  under  his  charge,  and 
kept  him  at  his  house,  properly  guarded.  The 
Commons  went  on  preparing  the  articles  of  im- 
peachment. 


1641.]  Strafford  and  Laud's  End.  183 

Laud  threatened  with  violence. 

This  was  in  November.  During  the  winter 
following  the  parties  struggled  one  against  an- 
other, Laud  doing  all  in  his  power  to  strength- 
en the  position  of  the  king,  and  to  avert  the 
dangers  which  threatened  himself  and  Strafford. 
The  animosity,  however,  which  was  felt  against 
him,  was  steadily  increasing.  The  House  of 
Commons  did  many  things  to  discountenance 
the  rites  and  usages  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
and  to  make  them  odious.  The  excitement 
among  the  populace  increased,  and  mobs  began 
to  interfere  with  the  service  in  some  of  the 
churches  in  London  and  Westminster.  At 
last  a  mob  of  five  hundred  persons  assembled 
around  the  archbishop's  palace  at  Lambeth.* 
This  palace,  as  has  been  before  stated,  is  on 
the  bank  of  the  Thames,  just  above  London,  op- 
posite to  Westminster.  The  mob  were  there  for 
two  hours,  beating  at  the  doors  and  windows  in 
an  attempt  to  force  admission,  but  in  vain. 
The  palace  was  very  strongly  guarded,  and  the 
mob  were  at  length  repulsed.  One  of  the  ring- 
leaders was  taken  and  hanged. 

One  would  have  thought  that  this  sort  of 
persecution  would  have  awakened  some  sym- 
pathy in  the  archbishop's  favor  ;  but  it  was  too 

<f  See  view  of  this  palace  on  page  133. 


184  King   Charles   I.  [1641. 

Arrest  of  Laud  on  the  charge  of  treason. 

late.  He  had  been  bearing  down  so  merciless- 
ly himself  upon  the  people  of  England  for  so 
many  years,  suppressing,  by  the  severest  meas- 
ures, all  expressions  of  discontent,  that  the 
hatred  had  become  entirely  uncontrollable.  Its 
breaking  out  at  one  point  only  promoted  its 
breaking  out  in  another.  The  House  of  Com- 
mons sent  a  messenger  to  the  House  of  Lords, 
as  they  had  done  in  the  case  of  Strafford,  say- 
ing that  they  had  found  good  cause  to  accuse 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  of  treason,  and 
asked  that  he  might  be  sequestered  from  the 
House,  and  held  in  custody  till  they  could  pre- 
pare their  charges,  and  the  evidence  to  sustain 
them. 

The  archbishop  was  at  that  time  in  his  seat. 
He  was  directed  to  withdraw.  Before  leaving 
the  chamber  he  asked  leave  to  say  a  few  words. 
Permission  was  granted,  and  he  said  in  sub- 
stance that  he  was  truly  sorry  to  have  awak- 
ened in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen  such  a  de- 
gree of  displeasure  as  was  obviously  excited 
against  him.  He  was  most  unhappy  to  have 
lived  to  see  the  day  in  which  he  was  made 
subject  to  a  charge  of  treason.  He  begged 
their  lordships  to  look  at  the  whole  course  of 
his  life,  and  he  was  sure  that  they  would  be 


.1641.]  Strafford  and  Laud's  End.  185 

Laud's  speech.  His  confinement. 

convinced  that  there  was  not  a  single  member 
of  the  House  of  Commons  who  could  really 
think  him  guilty  of  such  a  charge. 

Here  one  of  the  lords  interrupted  him  to  say, 
that  by  speaking  in  that  manner  he  was  utter- 
ing slander  against  the  House  of  Commons, 
charging  them  with  solemnly  bringing  accusa- 
tions which  they  did  not  believe  to  be  true. 
The  archbishop  then  said,  that  if  the  charge 
must  be  entertained,  he  hoped  that  he  should 
have  a  fair  trial,  according  to  the  ancient  Par- 
liamentary usages  of  the  realm.  Another  of 
the  lords  interrupted  him  again,  saying  that 
such  a  remark  was  improper,  as  it  was  not  for 
him  to  prescribe  the  manner  in  which  the  pro- 
ceedings should  be  conducted.  He  then  with- 
drew, while  the  House  should  consider  what 
course  to  take.  Presently  he  was  summoned 
back  to  the  bar  of  the  House,  and  there  com- 
mitted to  the  charge  of  the  usher  of  the  black 
rod.  The  usher  conducted  him  to  his  house, 
and  he  was  kept  there  for  ten  weeks  in  close 
confinement. 

At  last  the  time  for  the  trial   of  Strafford 

came  on,  while  Laud  was  in  confinement.    The 

interest  felt  in  the  trial  was  deep  and  universal. 

There  were  three  kingdoms,  as  it  were,  com- 

13 


186  King    Charles    I.  [1641. 

Trial  of  Strufford.  Unjust  conduct  of  the  Commons. 

bined  against  one  man.  Various  measures 
were  resorted  to  by  the  Commons  to  diminish 
the  possibility  that  the  accused  should  escape 
conviction.  Some  of  them  have  since  been 
thought  to  be  unjust  and  cruel.  For  example, 
several  persons  who  were  strong  friends  of 
Strafford,  and  who,  as  was  supposed,  might  of- 
fer testimony  in  his  favor,  were  charged  with 
treason  and  confined  in  prison  until  the  trial 
was  over.  The  Commons  appointed  thirteen 
persons  to  manage  the  prosecution.  These  per- 
sons were  many  months  preparing  the  charges 
and  the  evidence,  keeping  their  whole  proceed- 
ings profoundly  secret  during  all  the  time.  At 
last  the  day  approached,  and  Westminster  Hall 
was  fitted  up  and  prepared  to  be  the  scene  of 
the  trial. 

"Westminster  Hall  has  the  name  of  being  the 
largest  room  whose  roof  is  not  supported  by 
pillars  in  Europe.  It  stands  in  the  region  of 
the  palaces  and  the  Houses  of  Parliament  at 
Westminster,  and  has  been  for  seven  centuries 
the  scene  of  pageants  and  ceremonies  without 
number.  It  is  said  that  ten  thousand  persons 
have  been  accommodated  in  it  at  a  banquet.* 

*  It  is  two  hundred  and  seventy  feet  long,  seventy-five 
wide,  and  ninety  high. 


Westminster  Hah 


1641.]  Strafford  and  Laud's  End.  189 

Arrangements  at  Westminster  Hall.  Charges. 

This  great  room  was  fitted  up  for  the  trial. 
Seats  were  provided  for  both  houses  of  Parlia- 
ment ;  for  the  Commons  were  to  be  present  as 
accusers,  and  the  Lords  as  the  court.  There 
was,  as  usual,  a  chair  of  state,  or  throne,  for  the 
king,  as  a  matter  of  form.  There  was  also  a 
private  gallery,  screened  from  the  observation 
of  the  spectators,  where  the  king  and  queen 
could  sit  and  witness  the  proceedings.  They 
attended  during  the  whole  trial. 

One  would  have  supposed  that  the  deliberate 
solemnity  of  these  preparations  would  have 
calmed  the  animosity  of  Strafford's  enemies, 
and  led  them  to  be  satisfied  at  last  with  some- 
thing less  than  his  utter  destruction.  But  this 
seems  not  to  have  been  the  effect.  The  terri- 
ble hostilities  which  had  been  gathering  strength 
so  long,  seemed  to  rage  all  the  more  fiercely 
now  that  there  was  a  prospect  of  their  gratifi- 
cation. And  yet  it  was  very  hard  to  find  any 
thing  sufficiently  distinct  and  tangible  against 
the  accused  to  warrant  his  conviction.  The 
commissioners  who  had  been  appointed  to  man- 
age the  case  divided  the  charges  among  them. 
When  the  trial  commenced,  they  stated  and 
urged  these  charges  in  succession.  Strafford, 
who  had  not  known  beforehand  what  they  were 


190  King    Charles    I.  [1641. 

Imposing  Scene.  Strafford's  able  and  eloquent  defense. 

to  be,  replied  to  them,  one  by  one,  with  calm- 
ness and  composure,  and  yet  with  great  elo- 
quence and  power.  The  extraordinary  abili- 
ties which  he  had  shown  through  the  whole 
.course  of  his  life,  seemed  to  shine  out  with  in- 
creased splendor  amid  the  awful  solemnities 
which  were  now  darkening  its  close.  He  was 
firm  and  undaunted,  and  yet  respectful  and 
submissive.  The  natural  excitements  of  the 
occasion ;  the  imposing  assembly ;  the  breath- 
less attention ;  the  magnificent  hall ;  the  con- 
sciousness that  the  opposition  which  he  was 
struggling  to  stem  before  that  great  tribunal 
was  the  combined  hostility  of  three  kingdoms, 
and  that  the  torrent  was  flowing  from  a  reser- 
voir which  had  been  accumulating  for  many 
years  ;  and  that  the  whole  civilized  world  were 
looking  on  with  great  interest  to  watch  the  re- 
sult ;  and  perhaps,  more  than  all,  that  he  was 
in  the  unseen  presence  of  his  sovereign,  whom 
he  was  accustomed  to  look  upon  as  the  great- 
est personage  on  earth ;  these,  and  the  other 
circumstances  of  the  scene,  filled  his  mind  with 
strong  emotions,  and  gave  animation,  and  en- 
ergy, and  a  lofty  eloquence  to  all  that  he  said. 
The  trial  lasted  eighteen  days,  the  excite- 
ment increasing  constantly  to  the  end.     There 


1641.]  Strafford  and  Laud's  End.  191 

The  charge  of  treason  a  mere  pretext. 

was  nothing  proved  which  could  with  any  pro- 
priety be  considered  as  treason.  He  had  man- 
aged the  government,  it  is  true,,  with  one  set 
of  views  in  respect  to  the  absolute  prerogatives 
and  powers  of  the  king,  while  those  who  now 
were  in  possession  of  power  held  opposite  views, 
and  they  considered  it  a  matter  of  necessity 
that  he  should  die.  The  charge  of  treason  was 
a  pretext  to  bring  the  case  somewhat  within 
the  reach  of  the  formalities  of  law.  It  is  one 
of  the  necessary  incidents  of  all  governmental 
systems  founded  on  force,  and  not  on  the  con- 
sent of  the  governed,  that  when  great  and  fun- 
damental questions  of  policy  arise,  they  often 
bring  the  country  to  a  crisis  in  which  there  can 
be  no  real  settlement  of  the  dispute  without  the 
absolute  destruction  of  one  party  or  the  other. 
It  was  so  now,  as  the  popular  leaders  supposed. 
They  had  determined  that  stern  necessity  re- 
quired that  Laud  and  Strafford  must  die  ;  and 
the  only  object  of  going  through  the  formality 
of  a  trial  was  to  soften  the  violence  of  the  pro- 
ceeding a  little,  by  doing  all  that  could  be  done 
toward  establishing  a  legal  justification  of  the 
deed. 

The  trial,  as  has  been  said,  lasted  eighteen 
days.     During  all  this  time,  the  leaders  were 


192  King    Charles    I.  [1641. 

Vote  on  the  bill  of  attainder.  Interposition  of  the  Idng. 

not  content  with  simply  urging  the  proceed- 
ings forward  energetically  in  Westminster  Hall. 
They  were  maneuvering  and  managing  in  every 
possible  way  to  secure  the  final  vote.  But, 
notwithstanding  this,  Strafford's  defense  was  so 
able,  and  the  failure  to  make  out  the  charge 
of  treason  against  him  was  so  clear,  that  it  was 
doubtful  what  the  result  would  be.  According- 
ly, without  waiting  for  the  decision  of  the  Peers 
on  the  impeachment,  a  bill  of  attainder  against 
the  earl  was  brought  forward  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  This  bill  of  attainder  was  passed 
by  a  large  majority — yeas  204,  nays  59.  It 
was  then  sent  to  the  House  of  Lords.  The 
Lords  were  very  unwilling  to  pass  it. 

While  they  were  debating  it,  the  king  sent 
a  message  to  them  to  say  that  in  his  opinion 
the  earl  had  not  been  guilty  of  treason,  or  of 
any  attempt  to  subvert  the  laws ;  and  that 
several  things  which  had  been  alleged  in  the 
trial,  and  on  which  the  bill  of  attainder  chiefly 
rested,  were  not  true.  He  was  willing,  how- 
ever, if  it  would  satisfy  the  enemies  of  the  earl, 
to  have  him  convicted  of  a  misdemeanor,  and 
made  incapable  of  holding  any  public  office  from 
that  time  ;  but  he  protested  against  his  being 
punished  by  a  bill  of  attainder  on  a  charge  of 
treason. 


1641.]  Strafford  and  Laud's  End.  193 

Clamor  of  the  populace.  Condemnation. 

This  interposition  of  the  king  in  Strafford's 
favor  awakened  loud  expressions  of  displeas- 
ure. They  called  it  an  interference  with  the 
action  of  one  of  the  houses  of  Parliament.  The 
enemies  of  Strafford  created  a  great  excitement 
against  him  out  of  doors.  They  raised  clamor- 
ous calls  for  his  execution  among  the  populace. 
The  people  made  black  lists  of  the  names  of 
persons  who  were  in  the  earl's  favor,  and  post- 
ed them  up  in  public  places,  calling  such  per- 
sons Straffordians,  and  threatening  them  with 
public  vengeance.  The  Lords,  who  would 
have  been  willing  to  have  saved  Strafford's  life 
if  they  had  dared,  began  to  find  that  they  could 
not  do  so  without  endangering  their  own. 
When  at  last  the  vote  came  to  be  taken  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  out  of  eighty  members  who 
had  been  present  at  the  trial,  only  forty-six 
were  present  to  vote,  and  the  bill  was  passed 
by  a  vote  of  thirty-five  to  eleven.  The  thirty- 
four  who  were  absent  were  probably  all  against 
the  bill,  but  were  afraid  to  appear. 

The  responsibility  now  devolved  upon  the 
king.  An  act  of  Parliament  must  be  signed  by 
the  king.  He  really  enacts  it.  The  action  of 
the  two  houses  is,  in  theory,  only  a  recom- 
mendation of  the  measure  to  him.     The  kins: 


194  King   Charles    I.  [1(341. 

The  king  hesitates  about  signing  the  bill. 

was  determined  on  no  account  to  give  his  con- 
sent to  Strafford's  condemnation.  lie,  how- 
ever, laid  the  subject  before  his  Privy  Council. 
They,  after  deliberating  upon  it,  recommended 
•that  he  should  sign  the  bill.  Nothing  else, 
they  said,  could  allay  the  terrible  storm  which 
was  raging,  and  the  king  ought  to  prefer  the 
peace  and  safety  of  the  realm  to  the  life  of 
any  one  man,  however  innocent  he  might  be. 
The  populace,  in  the  mean  time,  crowded 
around  the  king's  palace  at  Whitehall,  calling 
out  "  Justice !  justice  /"  and  filling  the  air 
with  threats  and  imprecations  ;  and  preachers 
in  their  pulpits  urged  the  necessity  of  punish- 
ing offenders,  and  descanted  on  the  iniquity 
which  those  magistrates  committed  who  allow- 
ed great  transgressors  to  escape  the  penalty 
due  for  their  crimes. 

The  queen,  too,  was  alarmed.  She  begged 
the  king,  with  tears,  not  any  longer  to  attempt 
to  withstand  the  torrent  which  threatened  to 
sweep  them  all  away  in  its  fury.  While  things 
were  in  this  state,  Charles  received  a  letter 
from  Strafford  in  the  Tower,  expressing  his  con- 
sent, and  even  his  request,  that  the  king  should 
yield  and  sign  the  bill. 

The  Tower  of  London  is  verv  celebrated  in 


1641.]  Strafford  and  Laud's  End.  195 


Strafford's  letter  to  the  king. 


English  history.  Though  called  simply  by  the 
name  of  the  Tower,  it  is,  in  fact,  as  will  be 
seen  by  the  engraving  in  the  frontispiece,  an 
extended  group  of  buildings,  which  are  of  all 
ages,  sizes,  and  shapes,  and  covering  an  exten- 
sive area.  It  is  situated  below  the  city  of  Lon- 
don, having  been  originally  built  as  a  fortifica- 
tion for  the  defense  of  the  city.  Its  use  for  this 
purpose  has,  however,  long  since  passed  away. 
Strafford  said,  in  his  letter  to  the  king, 

"  To  set  your  Majesty's  conscience  at  Liber- 
ty, I  do  most  humbly  beseech  your  Majesty  for 
Prevention  of  Evils,  which  may  happen  by 
your  Refusal,  to  pass  this  Bill.  Sir,  My  Con- 
sent shall  more  acquit  you  herein  to  God,  than 
all  the  World  can  do  besides  ;  To  a  willing  Man 
there  is  no  Injury  done  ;  and  as  by  God's  Grace, 
I  forgive  all  the  World,  with  a  calmness  and 
Meekness  of  infinite  Contentment  to  my  dis- 
lodging Soul,  so,  Sir,  to  you  I  can  give  the  Life 
of  this  World  with  all  the  cheerfulness  imag- 
inable, in  the  just  Acknowledgment  of  your  ex- 
ceeding Favors  ;  and  only  beg  that  in  your 
Goodness  you  would  vouchsafe  to  cast  your 
gracious  Regard  upon  my  poor  Son  and  his 
three  sisters,  less  or  more,  and  no  otherwise 


196  King    Charles    I.  [1641. 

The  king  signs  the  bill.  Strafford's  surprise. 

than  as  their  unfortunate  Father  may  hereaf- 
ter appear  more  or  less  guilty  of  this  Death. 
God  long  preserve  your  Majesty." 

On  receiving  this  letter  the  king  caused  the 
bill  to  be  signed.  He  would  not  do  it  with  his 
own  hands,  but  commissioned  two  of  his  coun- 
cil to  do  it  in  his  name.  He  then  sent  a  mes- 
senger to  Strafford  to  announce  the  decision, 
and  to  inform  him  that  he  must  prepare  to  die. 
The  messenger  observed  that  the  earl  seemed 
surprised ;  and  after  hearing  that  the  king  had 
signed  the  bill,  he  quoted,  in  a  tone  of  despair, 
the  words  of  Scripture,  "  Put  not  your  trust  in 
princes,  nor  in  the  sons  of  men,  for  in  them  is 
no  salvation."  Historians  have  thought  it 
strange  that  Strafford  should  have  expressed 
this  disappointment  when  he  had  himself  re- 
quested the  king  to  resist  the  popular  will  no 
longer ;  and  they  infer  from  it  that  he  was  not 
sincere  in  the  request,  but  supposed  that  the 
king  would  regard  it  as  an  act  of  nobleness  and 
generosity  on  his  part,  that  would  render  him 
more  unwilling  than  ever  to  consent  to  his  de- 
struction, and  that  he  was  accordingly  surpris- 
ed and  disappointed  when  he  found  that  the 
king  had  taken  him  at  his  word.     It  is  said, 


1641.]  Strafford  and  Laud's  End.  197 

The  king  asks  mercy  for  Strafford. 

however,  by  some  historians,  that  this  letter 
was  a  forgery,  and  that  it  was  written  by  some 
of  Strafford's  enemies  to  lead  the  king  to  resist 
no  longer.  The  reader,  by  perusing  the  let- 
ter again,  can  perhaps  form  some  judgment 
whether  such  a  document  was  more  likely  to 
have  been  fabricated  by  enemies,  or  really  writ- 
ten by  the  unhappy  prisoner  himself. 

The  king  did  not  entirely  give  up  the  hope 
of  saving  his  friend,  even  after  the  bill  of  attain- 
der was  signed.  He  addressed  the  following 
message  to  the  House  of  Lords. 

My  Lords, — I  did  yesterday  satisfy  the  Jus- 
tice of  this  Kingdom  by  passing  the  Bill  of  At- 
tainder against  the  Earl  of  Strafford  :  but  Mer- 
cy being  as  inherent  and  inseparable  to  a  King 
as  Justice,  I  desire  at  this  time  in  some  meas- 
ure to  shew  that  likewise,  by  suffering  that 
unfortunate  Man  to  fulfill  the  natural  course 
of  his  Life  in  a  close  Imprisonment :  yet  so,  if 
ever  he  make  the  least  Offer  to  escape,  or  offer 
directly  or  indirectly  to  meddle  in  any  sort  of 
public  Business,  especially  with  Me  either  by 
Message  or  Letter,  it  shall  cost  him  his  Life 
without  farther  Process.  This,  if  it  may  be 
done  without  the  Discontentment  of  my  Peo- 


198  King   Charles   I.  [1641. 

Mercy  refused.  Strafford's  message  to  Laud. 

pie,  will  be  an  unspeakable  Contentment  to 
me. 

"  I  will  not  say  that  your  complying  with 
me  in  this  my  intended  Mercy,  shall  make  me 
more  willing,  but  certainly  'twill  make  me 
more  cheerful  in  granting  your  just  Grievan- 
ces :  But  if  no  less  than  his  Life  can  satisfie  my 
People,  I  must  say  Let  justice  be  done.  Thus 
again  recommending  the  consideration  of  my 
•Intention  to  you,  I  rest, 

"  Your  Unalterable  and  Affectionate  Friend, 

"  Charles  R." 


The  Lords  were  inexorable.  Three  days 
from  the  time  of  signing  the  bill,  arrangements 
were  made  for  conducting  the  prisoner  to  the 
scaffold.  Laud,  who  had  been  his  friend  and 
fellow-laborer  in  the  king's  service,  was  confined 
also  in  the  Tower,  awaiting  his  turn  to  come  to 
trial.  They  were  not  allowed  to  visit  each 
other,  but  Strafford  sent  word  to  Laud  request- 
ing him  to  be  at  his  window  at  the  time  when 
he  was  to  pass,  to  bid  him  farewell,  and  to  give 
him  his  blessing.  Laud  accordingly  appeared 
at  the  window,  and  Strafford,  as  he  passed, 
asked  for  the  prelate's  prayers  and  for  his  bless- 
ing.    The  old  man,  for  Laud  was  now  nearly 


iKSfS 


Hit  i  s 

111     '  .        -~~^ 


1641.]  Strafford  and  Laud's  End.  201 

Composure  of  Strafford.  His  execution. 

seventy  years  of  age,  attempted  to  speak,  but 
he  could  not  command  himself  sufficiently  to 
express  what  he  wished  to  say,  and  he  fell  back 
into  the  arms  of  his  attendants.  "  God  protect 
you,"  said  Strafford,  and  walked  calmly  on. 

He  went  to  the  place  of  execution  with  the 
composure  and  courage  of  a  hero.  He  spoke 
freely  to  those  around  him,  asserted  his  inno- 
cence, sent  messages  to  his  absent  friends,  and 
said  he  was  ready  and  willing  to  die.  The 
scaffold,  in  such  executions  as  this,  is  a  platform 
slightly  raised,  with  a  block  and  chairs  upon  it, 
all  covered  with  black  cloth.  A  part  of  the 
dress  has  to  be  removed  just  before  the  execu- 
tion, in  order  that  the  neck  of  the  sufferer  may 
be  fully  exposed  to  the  impending  blow.  Straf- 
ford made  these  preparations  himself,  and  said, 
as  he  did  so,  that  he  was  in  no  wise  afraid  of 
death,  but  that  he  should  lay  his  head  upon  that 
block  as  cheerfully  as  he  ever  did  upon  his  pil- 
low. 

Charles  found  his  position  in  no  respect  im- 
proved by  the  execution  of  Strafford.  The 
Commons,  finding  their  influence  and  power  in- 
creasing, grew  more  and  more  bold,  and  were 
from  this  time  so  absorbed  in  the  events  con- 
14 


202                King   Charles   I. 

[1641. 

Execution  of  Laud. 

His  firmness. 

nected  with  the  progress  of  their  quarrel  with 
the  king,  that  they  left  Laud  to  pine  in  his 
prison  for  about  four  years.  They  then  found 
time  to  act  over  again  the  solemn  and  awful 
scene  of  a  trial  for  treason  before  the  House  of 
Peers,  the  passing  of  a  bill  of  attainder,  and  an 
execution  on  Tower  Hill.  Laud  was  over 
seventy  years  of  age  when  the  ax  fell  upon  him. 
He  submitted  to  his  fate  with  a  calmness  and 
heroism  in  keeping  with  his  age  and  his  char- 
acter. He  said,  in  fact,  that  none  of  his  ene- 
mies could  be  more  desirous  to  send  him  out  of 
life  than  he  was  to  go< 


1641.]  Civil    War.  203 

Increasing  demands  of  the  Commons. 


Chapter    IX. 

Civil  War. 

PT1HE  way  in  which  the  king  came  at  last 
-*-  to  a  final  rupture  with  Parliament  was 
this.  The  victory  which  the  Commons  gained 
in  the  case  of  Strafford  had  greatly  increased 
their  confidence  and  their  power,  and  the  king 
found,  for  some  months  afterward,  that  instead 
of  being  satisfied  with  the  concessions  he  had 
made,  they  were  continually  demanding  more. 
The  more  he  yielded,  the  more  they  encroached. 
They  grew,  in  a  word,  bolder  and  bolder,  in 
proportion  to  their  success.  They  considered 
themselves  doing  the  state  a  great  and  good 
service  by  disarming  tyranny  of  its  power. 
The  king,  on  the  other  hand,  considered  them 
as  undermining  all  the  foundations  of  good 
government,  and  as  depriving  him  of  personal 
rights,  the  most  sacred  and  solemn  that  could 
vest  in  any  human  being. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  on  former  occa- 
sions, when  the  king  had  got  into  contention 
with  a  Parliament,  he  had  dissolved  it,  and 


204  King   Charles    I.  [1641. 

The  king  gradually  loses  his  power. 


either  attempted  to  govern  without  one,  or  else 
had  called  for  a  new  election,  hoping  that  the 
new  members  would  be  more  compliant.  But 
he  could  not  dissolve  the  Parliament  now. 
They  had  provided  against  this  danger.  At 
the  time  of  the  trial  of  Strafford,  they  brought 
in  a  bill  into  the  Commons  providing  that 
thenceforth  the  Houses  could  not  be  prorogued 
or  dissolved  without  their  own  consent.  The 
Commons,  of  course,  passed  the  bill  very  read- 
ily. The  Peers  were  more  reluctant,  but  they 
did  not  dare  to  reject  it.  The  king  was  ex- 
tremely unwilling  to  sign  the  bill ;  but,  amid 
the  terrible  excitements  and  dangers  of  that 
trial,  he  was  overborne  by  the  influences  of  dan- 
ger and  intimidation  which  surrounded  him. 
He  signed  the  bill.  Of  course  the  Commons 
were,  thereafter,  their  own  masters.  However 
dangerous  or  destructive  the  king  might  con- 
sider their  course  of  conduct  to  be,  he  could  now 
no  longer  arrest  it,  as  heretofore,  by  a  dissolu- 
tion. 

He  went  on,  therefore,  till  the  close  of  1641, 
yielding  slowly  and  reluctantly,  and  with  many 
struggles,  but  still  all  the  time  yielding,  to  the 
resistless  current  which  bore  him  along.  At 
last  he  resolved  to  yield  no  longer.     After  re- 


1641.]  Civil   War.  205 

The  king  determines  to  change  his  policy. 

treating  so  long,  he  determined  suddenly  and 
desperately  to  face  about  and  attack  his  ene- 
mies. The  whole  world  looked  on  with  aston- 
ishment at  such  a  sudden  change  of  his  policy. 

The  measure  which  he  resorted  to  was  this. 
He  determined  to  select  a  number  of  the  most 
efficient  and  prominent  men  in  Parliament, 
who  had  been  leaders  in  the  proceedings  against 
him,  and  demand  their  arrest,  imprisonment, 
and  trial,  on  a  charge  of  high  treason.  The 
king  was  influenced  to  do  this  partly  by  the  ad- 
vice of  the  queen,  and  of  the  ladies  of  the  court, 
and  other  persons  who  did  not  understand  how 
deep  and  strong  the  torrent  was  which  they 
thus  urged  him  to  attempt  to  stem.  They 
thought  that  if  he  would  show  a  little  courage 
and  energy  in  facing  these  men,  they  would 
yield  in  their  turn,  and  that  their  boldness  and 
success  was  owing,  in  a  great  measure,  to  the 
king's  want  of  spirit  in  resisting  them.  ' '  Strike 
boldly  at  them,"  said  they  ;  "  seize  the  leaders ; 
have  them  tried,  and  condemned,  and  executed. 
Threaten  the  rest  with  the  same  fate;  and  fol- 
low up  these  measures  with  energetic  and  de- 
cisive action,  and  you  will  soon  make  a  change 
in  the  aspect  of  affairs." 

The  king  adopted  this  policy,  and  he  did 


206  King  Charles  I.  [1642. 

The  king  sends  his  officers  to  the  House. 

make  a  change  in  the  aspect  of  affairs,  but  not 
such  a  change  as  his  advisers  had  anticipated. 
The  Commons  were  thrown  suddenly  into  a 
state  of  astonishment  one  day  by  the  appear- 
ance of  a  king's  officer  in  the  House,  who  rose 
and  read  articles  of  a  charge  of  treason  against 
five  of  the  most  influential  and  popular  mem- 
bers. The  officer  asked  that  a  committee 
should  be  appointed  to  hear  the  evidence 
against  them  which  the  king  was  preparing. 
The  Commons,  on  hearing  this,  immediately 
voted,  that  if  any  person  should  attempt  even 
to  seize  the  papers  of  the  persons  accused,  it 
should  be  lawful  for  them  to  resist  such  an  at- 
tempt by  every  means  in  their  power. 

The  next  day  another  officer  appeared  at  the 
bar  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  spoke  as  fol- 
lows. "  I  am  commanded  by  the  king's  majes- 
ty, my  master,  upon  my  allegiance,  that  I 
should  come  to  the  House  of  Commons,  and  re- 
quire of  Mr.  Speaker  five  gentlemen,  members 
of  the  House  of  Commons ;  and  those  gentle- 
men being  delivered,  I  am  commanded  to  ar- 
rest them  in  his  majesty's  name,  on  a  charge 
of  high  treason."  The  Commons,  on  hearing 
this  demand,  voted  that  they  would  take  it  into 
consideration ! 


1642.]  Civil   War.  207 

The  king  goes  to  the  House  himself. 

The  king's  friends  and  advisers  urged  him  to 
follow  the  matter  up  vigorously.  Every  thing 
depended,  they  said,  on  firmness  and  decision. 
The  next  day,  accordingly,  the  king  determined 
to  go  himself  to  the  House,  "and  make  the  de- 
mand in  person.  A  lady  of  the  court,  who  was 
made  acquainted  with  this  plan,  sent  notice  of 
it  to  the  House.  In  going,  the  king  took  his 
guard  with  him,  and  several  personal  attend- 
ants. The  number  of  soldiers  was  said  to  be 
five  hundred.  He  left  this  great  retinue  at  the 
door,  and  he  himself  entered  the  House.  The 
Commons,  when  they  heard  that  he  was  com- 
ing, had  ordered  the  five  members  who  were 
accused  to  withdraw.  They  went  out  just  be- 
fore the  king  came  in.  The  king  advanced  to 
the  speaker's  chair,  took  his  seat,  and  made  the 
following  address. 

"  Gentlemen, — I  am  sorry  for  this  occasion 
of  coming  unto  you.  Yesterday  I  sent  a  Ser- 
geant at  Arms  upon  a  very  important  occasion 
to  apprehend  some  that  by  my  Command  were 
accused  of  High  Treason  ;  whereunto  I  did  ex- 
pect Obedience  and  not  a  message.  And  I 
must  declare  unto  you  here,  that  albeit  no  king 
that  ever  was  in  England  shall  be  more  careful 


208  King   Charles   I.  [1642. 

The  king's  speech  in  the  House. 

of  your  Privileges,  to  maintain  them  to  the  ut- 
termost of  his  Power,  than  I  shall  be  ;  yet  you 
must  know  that  in  cases  of  Treason  no  Person 
hath  a  Privilege ;  and  therefore  I  am  come  to 
know  if  any  of  those  Persons  that  were  accused 
are  here.  For  I  must  tell  you,  Gentlemen, 
that  so  long  as  these  Persons  that  I  have  ac- 
cused (for  no  slight  Crime,  but  for  Treason)  are 
here,  I  can  not  expect  that  this  House  will  be 
in  the  right  way  that  I  do  heartily  wish  it. 
Therefore  I  am  come  to  tell  you  that  I  must 
have  them  wherever  I  find  them." 

After  looking  around,  and  finding  that  the 
members  in  question  were  not  in  the  hall,  he 
continued : 

"Well!  since  I  see  the  Birds  are  flown,  I 
do  expect  from  you  that  you  shall  send  them 
unto  me  as  soon  as  they  return  hither.  But  I 
assure  you,  on  the  Word  of  a  King,  I  never  did 
intend  any  Force,  but  shall  proceed  against 
them  in  a  legal  and  fair  way,  for  I  never  meant 
any  other. 

"  I  will  trouble  you  no  more,  but  tell  you  I 
do  expect,  as  soon  as  they  come  to  the  House, 
you  will  send  them  to  me,  otherwise  I  must 
take  my  own  course  to  find  them." 


1642.]  Civil    War.  209 

Great  excitement  in  the  House.  The  speaker's  reply. 

The  king's  coming  thus  into  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  demanding  in  person  that  they 
should  act  according  to  his  instructions,  was  a 
very  extraordinary  circumstance — perhaps  un- 
paralleled in  English  history.  It  produced  the 
greatest  excitement.  When  he  had  finished 
his  address,  he  turned  to  the  speaker  and  asked 
him  where  those  men  were.  He  had  his  guard 
ready  at  the  door  to  seize  them.  It  is  difficult 
for  us,  in  this  country,  to  understand  fully  to 
how  severe  a  test  this  sudden  question  put  the 
presence  of  mind  and  courage  of  the  speaker ; 
for  we  can  not  realize  the  profound  and  awful 
deference  which  was  felt  in  those  days  for .  the 
command  of  a  king.  The  speaker  gained  great 
applause  for  the  manner  in  which  he  stood  the 
trial.  He  fell  upon  his  knees  before  the  great 
potentate  who  had  addressed  him,  and  said,  "I 
have,  sir,  neither  eyes  to  see,  nor  tongue  to 
speak,  in  this  place,  but  as  the  House  is  pleased 
to  direct  me,  whose  servant  I  am.  And  I 
humbly  ask  pardon  that  I  can  not  give  any 
other  answer  to  what  your  majesty  is  pleased 
to  demand  of  me." 

The  House  was  immediately  in  a  state  of 
great  excitement  and  confusion.  They  called 
out  "  Privilege  !  privilege  /."   meaning   that 


210  King    Charles   I.  [1642. 

Results  of  the  king's  rashness.  Committee  of  the  Commons. 

their  privileges  were  violated.  They  immedi- 
ately adjourned.  News  of  the  affair  spread 
every  where  with  the  greatest  rapidity,  and 
produced  universal  and  intense  excitement. 
The  king's  friends  were  astonished  at  such  an 
act  of  rashness  and  folly,  which,  it  is  said,  only 
one  of  the  king's  advisers  knew  any  thing  about, 
and  he  immediately  fled.  The  five  members 
accused  went  that  night  into  the  city  of  Lon- 
don, and  called  on  the  government  and  people 
of  London  to  protect  them.  The  people  armed 
themselves.  In  a  word,  the  king  found  at 
night  that  he  had  raised  a  very  threatening  and 
terrible  storm. 

The  Commons  met  the  next  morning,  but 
did  not  attempt  to  transact  business.  They 
simply  voted  that  it  was  useless  for  them  to 
proceed  with  their  deliberations,  while  exposed 
to  such  violations  of  their  rights.  They  ap- 
pointed a  committee  of  twenty-four  to  inquire 
into  and  report  the  circumstances  of  the  king's 
intrusion  into  their  councils,  and  to  consider 
how  this  breach  of  their  privileges  could  be  re- 
paired. They  ordered  this  committee  to  sit  in 
the  city  of  London,  where  they  might  hope  to 
be  safe  from  such  interruptions,  and  then  the 
House  adjourned  for  a  week,  to  await  the  re- 
sult of  the  committee's  deliberations. 


1642.]  Civil    War.  211 

The  king  goes  to  London.  Cries  of  the  people. 

The  committee  went  to  London.  In  the 
mean  time,  news  went  all  over  the  kingdom 
that  the  House  of  Commons  had  been  compell- 
ed to  suspend  its  sittings  on  account  of  an  ille- 
gal and  unwarrantable  interference  with  their 
proceedings  on  the  part  of  the  king.  The  king 
was  alarmed ;  but  those  who  had  advised  him 
to  adopt  this  measure  told  him  that  he  must 
not  falter  now.  He  must  persevere  and  carry 
his  point,  or  all  would  be  lost. 

He  accordingly  did  persevere.  He  brought 
troops  and  arms  to  his  palace  at  Whitehall,  to 
be  ready  to  defend  it  in  case  of  attack.  He 
sent  in  to  London,  and  ordered  the  lord  mayor 
to  assemble  the  city  authorities  at  the  Guild- 
hall, which  is  the  great  city  hall  of  London ; 
and  then,  with  a  retinue  of  noblemen,  he  went 
in  to  meet  them.  The  people  shouted,  "  Priv- 
ileges of  Parliament !  privileges  of  Parlia- 
ment /"  as  he  passed  along.  Some  called  out, 
"  To  your  tents,  O  Israel  /"  which  was  the  an- 
cient Hebrew  cry  of  rebellion.  The  king,  how- 
ever, persevered.  When  he  reached  the  Guild- 
hall, he  addressed  the  city  authorities  thus : 

"  Gentlemen, — I  am  come  to  demand  such 
Persons  as  I  have  already  accused  of  High 
Treason,  and  do  believe  are  shrouded  in  the 


212  King   Charles   I.  [1642. 

Preparations  to  escort  the  committee  to  Westminster. 

City.  I  hope  no  good  Man  will  keep  them  from 
Me.  Their  Offenses  are  Treason  and  Misde- 
meanors of  a  high  Nature.  I  desire  your  As- 
sistance, that  they  may  be  brought  to  a  legal 
Trial."  Three  days  after  this  the  king  issued 
a  proclamation,  addressed  to  all  magistrates  and 
officers  of  justice  every  where,  to  arrest  the  ac- 
cused members  and  carry  them  to  the  Tower. 
In  the  mean  time,  the  committee  of  twenty- 
four  continued  their  session  in  London,  exam- 
ining witnesses  and  preparing  their  report. 
When  the  time  arrived  for  the  House  of  Com- 
mons to  meet  again,  which  was  on  the  11th  of 
January,  the  city  made  preparations  to  have 
the  committee  escorted  in  an  imposing  manner 
from  the  Guildhall  to  Westminster.  A  vast 
amount  of  the  intercommunication  and  traffic 
between  different  portions  of  the  city  then,  as 
now,  took  place  upon  the  river,  though  in  those 
days  it  was  managed  by  watermen,  who  rowed 
small  wherries  to  and  fro.  Innumerable  steam- 
boats take  the  place  of  the  wherries  at  the 
present  day,  and  stokers  and  engineers  have 
superseded  the  watermen.  The  watermen 
were  then,  however,  a  large  and  formidable 
body,  banded  together,  like  the  other  trades  of 
London,  in  one  great  organization.     This  great 


1642.]  Civil   War.  213 

Report  of  the  committee.  Alarm  of  the  king. 

company  turned  out  on  this  occasion,  and  at- 
tended the  committee  in  barges  on  the  river, 
while  the  military  companies  of  the  city  march- 
ed along  the  streets  upon  the  land.  The  com- 
mittee themselves  went  in  barges  on  the  water, 
and  all  London  flocked  to  see  the  spectacle. 
The  king,  hearing  of  these  arrangements,  was 
alarmed  for  his  personal  safety,  and  left  his 
palace  at  Whitehall  to  go  to  Hampton  Court, 
which  was  a  little  way  out  of  town. 

The  committee,  after  entering  the  House, 
reported  that  the  transactions  which  they  had 
been  considering  constituted  a  high  breach  of 
the  privileges  of  the  House,  and  was  a  seditious 
act,  tending  to  a  subversion  of  the  peace  of  the 
kingdom  ;  and  that  the  privileges  of  Parlia- 
ment, so  violated  and  broken,  could  not  be  suffi- 
ciently vindicated,  unless  his  majesty  would  be 
pleased  to  inform  them  who  advised  him  to  do 
such  a  deed. 

The  king  was  more  and  more  seriously 
alarmed.  He  found  that  the  storm  of  public 
odium  and  indignation  was  too  great  for  him  to 
withstand.  He  began  to  fear  for  his  own  safe- 
ty more  than  ever.  He  removed  from  Hamp- 
ton Court  to  Windsor  Castle,  a  stronger  place, 
and  more  remote  from  London  than  Hampton 


214  King    Charles   I.  [1642. 

The  king  yields.  Increasing  excitement. 

Court ;  and  he  now  determined  to  give  up  the 
contest.  He  sent  a  message,  therefore,  to  the 
House,  saying  that,  on  further  reflection,  since 
so  many  persons  had  doubts  whether  his  pro- 
ceedings against  the  five  members  were  con- 
sistent with  the  privileges  of  Parliament,  he 
would  waive  them,  and  the  whole  subject  might 
rest  until  the  minds  of  men  were  more  com- 
posed, and  then,  if  he  proceeded  against  the  ac- 
cused members  at  all,  he  would  do  so  in  a  man- 
ner to  which  no  exception  could  be  taken.  He 
said,  also,  he  would  henceforth  be  as  careful  of 
their  privileges  as  he  should  be  of  his  own  life 
or  crown. 

Thus  he  acknowledged  himself  vanquished 
in  the  struggle,  but  the  acknowledgment  came 
too  late  to  save  him.  The  excitement  increased, 
and  spread  in  every  direction.  The  party  of 
the  king  and  that  of  the  Parliament  disputed 
for  a  few  months  about  these  occurrences,  and 
others  growing  out  of  them,  and  then  each  be- 
gan to  maneuver  and  struggle  to  get  possession 
of  the  military  power  of  the  kingdom.  The 
king,  finding  himself  not  safe  in  the  vicinity  of 
London,  retreated  to  York,  and  began  to  as- 
semble and  organize  his  followers.  Parliament 
sent  him  a  declaration  that  if  he  did  not  dis- 


1642.]  Civil   War.  215 

Civil  war.  Its  nature. 

band  the  forces  which  he  was  assembling,  they 
should  be  compelled  to  provide  measures  for  se- 
curing the  peace  of  the  kingdom.  The  king 
replied  by  proclamations  calling  upon  his  sub- 
jects to  join  his  standard.  In  a  word,  before 
midsummer,  the  country  was  plunged  in  the 
horrors  of  civil  war. 

A  civil  war,  that  is,  a  war  between  two 
parties  in  the  same  country,  is  generally  far 
more  savage  and  sanguinary  than  any  other. 
The  hatred  and  the  animosities  which  it  cre- 
ates, ramify  throughout  the  country,  and  pro- 
duce universal  conflict  and  misery.  If  there 
were  a  war  between  France  and  England, 
there  might  be  one,  or  perhaps  two  invading 
armies  of  Frenchmen  attempting  to  penetrate 
into  the  interior.  All  England  would  be  unit- 
ed against  them.  Husbands  and  wives,  pa- 
rents and  children,  neighbors  and  friends,  would 
be  drawn  together  more  closely  than  ever; 
while  the  awful  scenes  of  war  and  bloodshed, 
the  excitement,  the  passion,  the  terror,  would 
be  confined  to  a  few  detached  spots,  or  to  a  few 
lines  of  march  which  the  invading  armies  had 
occupied. 

In  a  civil  war,  however,  it  is  very  different. 
Every  distinct  portion   of  the  country,  every 


216  King   Charles   I.  [1642. 

Cruelties  and  miseries  of  civil  war. 

village  and  hamlet,  and  sometimes  almost  every 
family,  is  divided  against  itself.  The  hostility 
and  hatred,  too,  between  the  combatants,  is  al- 
ways far  more  intense  and  bitter  than  that 
which  is  felt  against  a  foreign  foe.  "We  might 
at  first  be  surprised  at  this.  We  might  imag- 
ine that  where  men  are  contending  with  their 
neighbors  and  fellow-townsmen,  the  recollec- 
tion of  past  friendships  and  good- will,  and  vari- 
ous lingering  ties  of  regard,  would  moderate 
the  fierceness  of  their  anger,  and  make  them 
more  considerate  and  forbearing.  But  this  is 
not  found  to  be  the  case.  Each  party  consid- 
ers the  other  as  not  only  enemies,  but  traitors, 
and  accordingly  they  hate  and  abhor  each  other 
with  a  double  intensity.  If  an  Englishman 
has  a  Frenchman  to  combat,  he  meets  him 
with  a  murderous  impetuosity,  it  is  true,  but 
without  any  special  bitterness  of  animosity. 
He  expects  the  Frenchman  to  be  his  enemy. 
He  even  thinks  he  has  a  sort  of  natural  right 
to  be  so.  He  will  kill  him  if  he  can ;  but  then, 
if  he  takes  him  prisoner,  there  is  nothing  in  his 
feelings  toward  him  to  prevent  his  treating  him 
with  generosity,  and  even  with  kindness.  He 
hates  him,  but  there  is  a  sort  of  good-nature  in 
his  hatred,  after  all.     On  the  other  hand,  when 


1642.]  Civil    War.  217 

Taking  sides  between  the  king  and  Parliament. 


he  fights  against  his  countrymen  in  a  civil  war, 
he  abhors  and  hates  with  unmingled  bitterness 
the  traitorous  ingratitude  which  he  thinks  his 
neighbors  and  friends  evince  in  turning  enemies 
to  their  country.  He  can  see  no  honesty,  no 
truth,  no  courage  in  any  thing  they  do.  They 
are  infinitely  worse,  in  his  estimation,  than  the 
most  ferocious  of  foreign  foes.  Civil  war  is, 
consequently,  always  the  means  of  far  wider 
and  more  terrible  mischief  than  any  other  hu- 
man calamity. 

In  the  contention  between  Charles  and  the 
Parliament,  the  various  elements  of  the  social 
state  adhered  to  one  side  or  the  other,  according 
to  their  natural  predilections.  The  Episcopal- 
ians generally  joined  the  king,  the  Presbyteri- 
ans the  Parliament.  The  gentry  and  the  no- 
bility favored  the  king ;  the  mechanics,  arti- 
sans, merchants,  and  common  people  the  Par- 
liament. The  rural  districts  of  country,  which, 
were  under  the  control  of  the  great  landlords, 
the  king ;  the  cities  and  towns,  the  Parliament. 
The  gay,  and  fashionable,  and  worldly,  the 
king ;  the  serious-minded  and  austere,  the  Par- 
liament. Thus  every  thing  was  divided.  The 
quarrel  ramified  to  every  hamlet  and  to  every 
14* 


218  King    Charles    I.  [1642. 

Preparations  for  war.  Fruitless  negotiations. 

fireside,  and  the  peace  and  happiness  of  the 
realm  were  effectually  destroyed. 

Both  sides  began  to  raise  armies  and  to  pre- 
pare for  war.  Before  commencing  hostilities, 
however,  the  king  was  persuaded  by  his  coun- 
selors to  send  a  messenger  to  London  and  pro- 
pose some  terms  of  accommodation.  He  ac- 
cordingly sent  the  Earl  of  Southampton  to  the 
House  of  Peers,  and  two  other  persons  to  the 
House  of  Commons.  He  had  no  expectation, 
probably,  of  making  peace,  but  he  wanted  to 
gain  time  to  get  his  army  together,  and  also  to 
strengthen  his  cause  among  the  people  by  show- 
ing a  disposition  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  avoid 
open  war.  The  messengers  of  the  king  went 
to  London,  and  made  their  appearance  in  the 
two  houses  of  Parliament. 

The  House  of  Lords  ordered  the  Earl  of 
Southampton  to  withdraw,  and  to  send  his  com- 
munication in  in  writing,  and  in  the  mean  time 
to  retire  out  of  London,  and  wait  for  their  an- 
swer. The  House  of  Commons,  in  the  same 
spirit  of  hostility  and  defiance,  ordered  the  mes- 
sengers which  had  been  sent  to  them  to  come 
to  the  bar,  like  humble  petitioners  or  criminals, 
and  make  their  communication  there. 

The  propositions  of  the  king  to  the  houses 


1642.]  Civil    War.  219 

Messages  between  the  king  and  Parliament. 

of  Parliament  were,  that  they  should  appoint  a 
certain  number  of  commissioners,  and  he  also 
the  same  number,  to  meet  and  confer  together, 
in  hope  of  agreeing  upon  some  conditions  of 
peace.  The  houses  passed  a  vote  in  reply,  de- 
claring that  they  had  been  doing  all  in  their 
power  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  kingdom, 
while  the  king  had  been  interrupting  and  dis- 
turbing it  by  his  military  gatherings,  and  by 
proclamations,  in  which  they  were  called  trai- 
tors ;  and  that  they  could  enter  into  no  treaty 
with  him  until  he  disbanded  the  armies  which 
he  had  collected,  and  recalled  his  proclamations. 

To  this  the  king  replied  that  he  had  never 
intended  to  call  them  traitors ;  and  that  when 
they  would  recall  their  declarations  and  votes 
stigmatizing  those  who  adhered  to  him  as  trai- 
tors, he  would  recall  his  proclamations.  Thus 
messages  passed  back  and  forth  two  or  three 
times,  each  party  criminating  the  other,  and 
neither  willing  to  make  the  concessions  which 
the  other  required.  At  last  all  hope  of  an  ac- 
commodation was  abandoned,  and  both  sides 
prepared  for  war. 

The  nobility  and  gentry  flocked  to  the  king's 
standard.  They  brought  their  plate,  their  jew- 
els, and  their  money  to  provide  funds.     Some 


220  King    Charles    I.  [1643. 

Ravages  of  the  war.  Death  of  Hampden. 

of  them  brought  their  servants.  There  were 
two  companies  in  the  king's  guard,  one  of  which 
consisted  of  gentlemen,  and  the  other  of  their 
servants.  These  two  companies  were  always 
kept  together.  There  was  the  greatest  zeal 
and  enthusiasm  among  the  upper  classes  to 
serve  the  king,  and  equal  zeal  and  enthusiasm 
among  the  common  people  to  serve  the  Parlia- 
ment. The  war  continued  for  four  years. 
During  all  this  time  the  armies  marched  and 
countermarched  all  over  the  kingdom,  carrying 
ruin  and  destruction  wherever  they  went,  and 
plunging  the  whole  country  in  misery. 

At  one  of  the  battles  which  was  fought,  the 
celebrated  John  Hampden,  the  man  who  would 
not  pay  his  ship  money,  was  slain.  He  had 
been  a  very  energetic  and  efficient  officer  on 
the  Parliamentary  side,  and  was  much  dreaded 
by  the  forces  of  the  king.  At  one  of  the  battles 
between  Prince  Rupert,  Charles's  nephew,  and 
the  army  of  the  Parliament,  the  prince  brought 
to  the  king's  camp  a  large  number  of  prisoners 
which  he  had  taken.  One  of  the  prisoners  said 
he  was  confident  that  Hampden  was  hurt,  for 
he  saw  him  riding  off  the  field  before  the  battle 
was  over,  with  his  head  hanging  down,  and  his 
hands  clasping  the  neck  of  his  horse.     They 


1643.]  Civil    War.  223 

Prince  Rupert.  His  knowledge  and  ingenuity. 

heard  the  next  day  that  he  had  been  wounded 
in  the  shoulder.  Inflammation  and  fever  en- 
sued, and  he  died  a  few  days  afterward  in  great 
agony. 

This  Prince  Rupert  was  a  very  famous  char- 
acter in  all  these  wars.  He  was  young  and  ar- 
dent, and  full  of  courage  and  enthusiasm.  He 
was  always  foremost  and  ready  to  embark  in 
the  most  daring  undertakings.  He  was  the 
son  of  the  king's  sister  Elizabeth,  who  married 
the  Elector  Palatine,  as  narrated  in  a  preceding 
chapter.  He  was  famous  not  only  for  his  mil- 
itary skill  and  attainments,  but  for  his  knowl- 
edge of  science,  and  for  his  ingenuity  in  many 
philosophical  arts.  There  is  a  mode  of  engrav- 
ing called  mezzotinto,  which  is  somewhat  easier 
of  execution  than  the  common  mode,  and  pro- 
duces a  peculiar  effect.  Prince  Rupert  is  said, 
to  have  been  the  inventor  of  it,  though,  as  is 
the  case  with  almost  all  other  inventions,  there 
is  a  dispute  about  it.  He  discovered  a  mode 
of  dropping  melted  glass  into  water  so  as  to 
form  little  pear-shaped  globules,  with  a  long 
slender  tail.  These  globules  have  this  remark- 
able property,  that  if  the  tip  of  the  tail  is  bro- 
ken off  ever  so  gently,  the  whole  flies  into 
atoms  with  an  explosion.     These  drops  of  glass 


224  King    Charles   I.  [1643. 

Progress  of  the  war.  Difficulty  of  making  peace. 

are  often  exhibited  at  the  present  day,  and  are 
called  Prince  Rupert's  drops.  The  prince  also 
discovered  a  very  tenacious  composition  of  met- 
als for  casting  cannon.  As  artillery  is  neces- 
sarily very  heavy,  and  very  difficu  It  to  be  trans- 
ported on  marches  and  upon  the  field  of  battle, 
it  becomes  very  important  to  discover  such  me- 
tallic compounds  as  have  the  greatest  strength 
and  tenacity  in  resisting  the  force  of  an  explo- 
sion. Prince  Rupert  invented  such  a  com- 
pound, which  is  called  by  his  name. 

There  were  not  only  a  great  many  battles 
and  fierce  encounters  between  the  two  great 
parties  in  this  civil  war,  but  there  were  also, 
at  times,  temporary  cessations  of  the  hostilities, 
and  negotiations  for  peace.  But  it  is  very 
hard  to  make  peace  between  two  powers  en- 
gaged in  civil  war.  Each  considers  the  other 
as  acting  the  part  of  rebels  and  traitors,  and 
there  is  a  difficulty,  almost  insuperable,  in  the 
way  of  even  opening  negotiations  between  them. 
Still  the  people  became  tired  of  the  war.  At 
one  time,  when  the  king  had  made  some  propo- 
sitions which  the  Parliament  would  not  accept, 
an  immense  assemblage  of  women  collected  to- 
gether, with  white  ribbons  in  their  hats,  to  go 
to  the  House  of  Commons  with  a  petition  for' 


1643.]  Civil    War.  225 

The  women  clamor  for  peace.        Queen  Henrietta's  arrival  in  England. 

peace.  When  they  reached  the  door  of  the  hall 
their  number  was  five  thousand.  They  called 
out,  "  Peace  !  peace  !  Give  us  those  traitors 
that  are  against  peace,  that  we  may  tear  them 
to  pieces."  The  guards  who  were  stationed  at 
the  door  were  ordered  to  fire  at  this  crowd, 
loading  their  guns,  however,  only  with  powder. 
This,  it  was  thought,  would  frighten  them 
away  ;  but  the  women  only  laughed  at  the 
volley,  and  returned  it  with  stones  and  brick- 
bats, and  drove  the  guards  away.  Other  troops 
were  then  sent  for,  who  charged  upon  the  wom- 
en with  their  swords,  and  cut  them  in  their 
faces  and  hands,  and  thus  at  length  dispersed 
them. 

During  the  progress  of  the  war,  the  queen  re- 
turned from  the  Continent  and  joined  the  king. 
She  had  some  difficulty,  however,  and  encoun- 
tered some  personal  danger,  in  her  efforts  to  re- 
turn to  her  husband.  The  vice-admiral,  who 
had  command  of  the  English  ships  off  the' coast, 
received  orders  to  intercept  her.  He  watched 
for  her.  She  contrived,  however,  to  elude  his 
vigilance,  though  there  were  four  ships  in  her 
convoy.  She  landed  at  a  town  called  Burling- 
ton, or  Bridlington,  in  Yorkshire.  This  town 
stands  in  a  very  picturesque  situation,  a  little 
15 


226  King    Charles    I.  [1643. 

The  vice-admiral  cannonades  the  queen. 

south  of  a  famous  promontory  called  Flam- 
borough  Head,  of  which  there  is  a  beautiful 
view  from  the  pier  of  the  town. 

The  queen  succeeded  in  landing  here.  On 
her  arrival  at  the  town,  she  found  herself 
worn  down  with  the  anxiety  and  fatigue  of  the 
voyage,  and  she  wanted  to  stop  a  few  days  to 
rest.  She  took  up  her  residence  in  a  house 
which  was  on  the  quay,  and,  of  course,  near 
the  water.  The  quay,  as  it  is  called,  in  these 
towns,  is  a  street  on  the  margin  of  the  water, 
with  a  wall,  but  no  houses  next  the  sea.  The 
vice-admiral  arrived  at  the  town  the  second 
night  after  the  queen  had  landed.  He  was 
vexed  that  his  expected  prize  had  escaped  him. 
He  brought  his  ships  up  near  to  the  town,  and 
began  to  fire  toward  the  house  in  which  the 
queen  was  lodging. 

This  was  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
The  queen  and  her  attendants  were  in  their 
beds,  asleep.  The  reports  of  the  cannon  from 
the  ships,  the  terrific  whistling  of  the  balls 
through  the  air,  and  the  crash  of  the  houses 
which  the  balls  struck,  aroused  the  whole  vil- 
lage from  their  slumbers,  and  threw  them  into 
consternation.  The  people  soon  came  to  the 
house  where  the  queen  was  lodging,  and  begged 


IHiL  ii  !„.J' 


1643.]  Civil    War.  229 

The  queen's  danger.  She  seeks  shelter  in  a  trench. 

her  to  fly.  They  said  that  the  neighboring 
houses  were  blown  to  pieces,  and  that  her  own 
would  soon  be  destroyed,  and  she  herself  would 
be  killed.  They  may,  however,  have  been  in- 
fluenced more  by  a  regard  to  their  own  safety 
than  to  hers  in  these  injunctions,  as  it  must 
have  been  a  great  object  with  the  villagers  to 
effect  the  immediate  removal  of  a  visitor  who 
was  the  means  of  bringing  upon  them  so  terri- 
ble a  danger. 

These  urgent  entreaties  of  the  villagers  were 
soon  enforced  by  two  cannon-balls,  which  fell, 
one  after  another,  upon  the  roof  of  the  house, 
and,  crashing  their  way  through  the  roof  and 
the  floors,  went  down,  without  seeming  to  re- 
gard the  resistance,  from  the  top  to  the  bottom. 
The  queen  hastily  put  on  her  clothes,  and  went 
forth  with  her  attendants  on  foot,  the  balls 
from  the  ships  whistling  after  them  all  the  way. 

One  of  her  servants  was  killed.  The  rest  of 
the  fugitives,  finding  their  exposure  so  great, 
stopped  at  a  sort  of  trench  which  they  came 
to,  at  the  end  of  a  field,  such  as  is  dug  com- 
monly, in  England,  on  one  side  of  the  hedge, 
to  make  the  barrier  more  impassable  to  the  ani- 
mals which  it  is  intended  to  confine.  This 
trench,  with  the  embankment  formed  by  the 


230  King   Charles    I.  [1643. 

The  queen  joins  her  husband.  Her  influence. 

earth  thrown  out  of  it,  on  which  the  hedge  is 
usually  planted,  afforded  them  protection.  They 
sought  shelter  in  it,  and  remained  there  for  two 
hours,  like  besiegers  in  the  approaches  to  a 
town,  the  balls  passing  over  their  heads  harm- 
lessly, though  sometimes  covering  them  with 
the  earth  which  they  threw  up  as  they  bound- 
ed by.  At  length  the  tide  began  to  ebb,  and 
the  vice-admiral  was  in  danger  of  being  left 
aground.  He  weighed  his  anchors  and  with- 
drew, and  the  queen  and  her  party  were  re- 
lieved. Such  a  cannonading  of  a  helpless  and 
defenseless  woman  is  a  barbarity  which  could 
hardly  take  place  except  in  a  civil  war. 

The  queen  rejoined  her  husband,  and  she 
rendered  him  essential  service  in  many  ways. 
She  had  personal  influence  enough  to  raise  both 
money  and  men  for  his  armies,  and  so  contrib- 
uted very  essentially  to  the  strength  of  his 
party.  At  last  she  returned  to  the  Continent 
again,  and  went  to  Paris,  where  she  was  still 
actively  employed  in  promoting  his  cause.  At 
one  of  the  battles  in  which  the  king  was  de- 
feated, the  Parliamentary  army  seized  his  bag- 
gage, and  found  among  his  papers  his  corre- 
spondence with  the  queen.  They  very  ungen- 
erously ordered  it  to  be  published,  as  the  let- 


1646.]  Civil    War.  231 

The  royal  cause  declines.  The  Prince  of  Wales. 

ters  seemed  to  show  a  vigorous  determination 
on  the  part  of  the  king  not  to  yield  in  the  con- 
test without  obtaining  from  the  Parliament 
and  their  adherents  full  and  ample  concessions 
to  his  claims. 

As  time  rolled  on,  the  strength  of  the  royal 
party  gradually  wasted  away,  while  that  of 
Parliament  seemed  to  increase,  until  it  became 
evident  that  the  latter  would,  in  the  end,  ob- 
tain the  victory.  The  king  retreated  from 
place  to  place,  followed  by  his  foes,  and  grow- 
ing weaker  and  more  discouraged  after  every 
conflict.  His  son,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  was 
then  about  fifteen  years  of  age.  He  sent  him 
to  the  western  part  of  the  island,  with  direc- 
tions that,  if  affairs  should  still  go  against  him, 
the  boy  should  be  taken  in  time  out  of  the 
country,  and  join  his  mother  in  Paris.  The 
danger  grew  more  and  more  imminent,  and 
they  who  had  charge  of  the  young  prince  sent 
him  first  to  Scilly,  and  then  to  Jersey — islands 
in  the  Channel— whence  he  made  his  escape  to 
Paris,  and  joined  his  mother.  Fifteen  years 
afterward  he  returned  to  London  with  great 
pomp  and  parade,  and  was  placed  upon  the 
throne  by  universal  acclamation. 

At  last  the  king  himself,  after  being  driven 


2'32  KiNLi    Charles    1.  [1G46. 

Hopeless  condition  of  the  king.  Invasion  by  the  Scots. 

from  one  place  of  refuge  to  another,  retreated 
to  Oxford  and  intrenched  himself  there.  Here 
he  spent  the  winter  of  1646  in  extreme  depres- 
sion and  distress.  His  friends  deserted  him ; 
his  resources  were  expended ;  his  hopes  were 
extinguished.  He  sent  proposals  of  peace  to 
the  Parliament,  and  offered,  himself,  to  come 
to  London,  if  they  would  grant  him  a  safe-con- 
duct. In  reply,  they  forbade  him  to  come. 
They  would  listen  to  no  propositions,  and  would 
make  no  terms.  The  case,  they  saw,  was  in 
their  own  hands,  and  they  determined  on  un- 
conditional submission.  They  hemmed  the 
king  in  on  all  sides  at  his  retreat  in  Oxford, 
and  reduced  him  to  despair. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  Scots,  a  year  or  two 
before  this,  had  raised  an  army  and  crossed  the 
northern  frontier,  and  entered  England.  They 
were  against  monarchy  and  Episcopacy,  but 
they  were,  in  some  respects,  a  separate  enemy 
from  those  against  whom  the  king  had  been 
contending  so  long  ;  and  he  began  to  think 
that  he  had  perhaps  better  fall  into  their  hands 
than  into  those  of  his  English  foes,  if  he  must 
submit  to  one  or  to  the  other.  He  hesitated 
for  some  time  what  course  to  take ;  but  at  last, 
after  receiving  representations  of  the  favorable 


1646.J  Civil    War.  233 

The  king  surrenders  to  the  Scots.  End  of  the  civil  war. 

feeling  which  prevailed  in  regard  to  him  in  the 
Scottish  army,  he  concluded  to  make  his  es- 
cape from  Oxford  and  surrender  himself  to 
them.  He  accordingly  did  so,  and  the  civil 
war  was  ended. 


234  King    Charles    I.  [1646. 

The  king's  escape  from  Hampton  Court. 


c  iiapter    x. 

The    Captivity. 

TIIHE  circumstances  of  King  Charles's  sur- 
-"-  render  to  the  Scots  were  these.  He  knew 
that  he  was  surrounded  by  his  enemies  in  Ox- 
ford, and  that  they  would  not  allow  him  to  es- 
cape if  they  could  prevent  it.  He  and  his 
friends,  therefore,  formed  the  following  plan  to 
elude  them. 

They  sent  word  to  the  commanders  of  each 
of  the  several  gates  of  the  city,  on  a  certain 
day,  that  during  the  ensuing  night  three  men 
would  have  to  pass  out  on  business  of  the 
king's,  and  that  when  the  men  should  appear 
and  give  a  certain  signal,  they  were  to  be  al- 
lowed to  pass.  The  officer  at  each  gate  receiv- 
ed this  command  without  knowing  that  a  sim- 
ilar one  had  been  sent  to  the  others. 

Accordingly,  about  midnight,  the  parties  of 
men  were  dispatched,  and  they  went  out  at  the 
several  gates.  The  king  himself  was  in  one  of 
these  parties.  There  were  two  other  persons 
with  him.     One  of  these  persons  was  a  certain 


1646.]  The    Captivity.  237 

The  king  delivers  himself  to  the  Scots.  His  reception. 

Mr.  Ashburnham,  and  the  king  was  disguised 
as  his  servant.  They  were  all  on  horseback, 
and  the  king  had  a  valise  upon  the  horse  be- 
hind him,  so  as  to  complete  his  disguise.  This 
was  on  the  27th  of  April.  The  next  day,  or 
very  soon  after,  it  was  known  at  Oxford  that 
his  majesty  was  gone,  but  no  one  could  tell  in 
what  direction,  for  there  was  no  means  even  of 
deciding  by  which  of  the  gates  he  had  left  the 
city. 

The  Scotch  were,  at  this  time,  encamped  be- 
fore the  town  of  Newark,  which  is  on  the  Trent, 
in  the  heart  of  England,  and  about  one  hund- 
red and  twenty  miles  north  of  London.  There 
was  a  magnificent  castle  at  Newark  in  those 
days,  which  made  the  place  very  strong.  The 
town  held  out  for  the  king ;  for,  though  they  had 
been  investing  it  for  some  time,  they  had  not 
yet  succeeded  in  compelling  the  governor  to 
surrender.  The  king  concluded  to  proceed  to 
Newark  and  enter  the  Scottish  camp.  He  con- 
sidered it,  or,  rather,  tried  to  have  it  considered, 
that  he  was  coming  to  join  them  as  their  mon- 
arch. They  were  going  to  consider  it  surren- 
dering to  them  as  their  prisoner.  The  king  him- 
self must  have  known  how  it  would  be,  but  it 
made  his  sense  of  humiliation  a  little  less  poig- 


238  King    Charles    I.  [1646. 

Proclamation  b3r  Parliament.  Surrender  of  Newark. 

nant  to  carry  this  illusion  with  him  as  long  as 
it  was  possible  to  maintain  it. 

As  soon  as  the  Parliament  found  that  the 
king  had  made  his  escape  from  Oxford,  they 
were  alarmed,  and  on  the  4th  of  May  they  is- 
sued an  order  to  this  effect,  "  That  what  per- 
son soever  should  harbor  and  conceal,  or  should 
know  of  the  harboring  or  concealing  of  the 
king's  person,  and  should  not  immediately  re- 
veal it  to  the  speakers  of  both  houses,  should  be 
proceeded  against  as  a  traitor  to  the  Common- 
wealth, and  die  without  mercy."  The  proc- 
lamation of  this  order,  however,  did  not  result 
in  arresting  the  flight  of  the  king.  On  the  day 
after  it  was  issued,  he  arrived  safely  at  Newark. 

The  Scottish  general,  whose  name  was  Les- 
ley, immediately  represented  to  the  king  that 
for  his  own  safety  it  was  necessary  that  they 
should  retire  toward  the  northern  frontier  ;  but 
they  could  not  so  retire,  he  said,  unless  Newark 
should  first  surrender.  They  accordingly  in- 
duced the  king  to  send  in  orders  to  the  govern- 
or of  the  castle  to  give  up  the  place.  The 
Scots  took  possession  of  it,  and,  after  having 
garrisoned  it,  moved  with  their  army  toward 
the  north,  the  king  and  General  Lesley  being 
in  the  van. 


1646.]  The    Captivity.  239 

Negotiations  about  the  disposal  of  the  king's  person. 

They  treated  the  king  with  great  distinction, 
but  guarded  him  very  closely,  and  sent  word  to 
the  Parliament  that  he  was  in  their  possession. 
There  ensued  long  negotiations  and  much  de- 
bate. The  question  was,  at  first,  whether  the 
English  or  Scotch  should  have  the  disposal  of 
the  king's  person.  The  English  said  that  they, 
and  not  the  Scots,  were  the  party  making  war 
upon  him  ;  that  they  had  conquered  his  armies, 
and  hemmed  him  in,  and  reduced  him  to  the 
necessity  of  submission  ;  and  that  he  had  been 
taken  captive  on  English  soil,  and  ought,  con- 
sequently, to  be  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the 
English  Parliament.  The  Scots  replied  that 
though  he  had  been  taken  in  England,  he  was 
their  king  as  well  as  the  king  of  England,  and 
had  made  himself  their  enemy  ;  and  that,  as  he 
had  fallen  into  their  hands,  he  ought  to  remain 
at  their  disposal.  To  this  the  English  rejoined, 
that  the  Scots,  in  taking  him,  had  not  acted  on 
their  own  account,  but  as  the  allies,  and,  as  it 
were,  the  agents  of  the  English,  and  that  they 
ought  to  consider  the  king  as  a  captive  taken 
for  them,  and  hold  him  subject  to  their  disposal. 

They  could  not  settle  the  question.  In  tho 
mean  time  the  Scottish  army  drew  back  to- 
ward the  frontier,  taking  the  king  with  them. 


240  King    Charles    I.  [1646. 


The  Scots  surrender  the  king.  Whether  he  was  sold. 

About  this  time  a  negotiation  sprung  up  be- 
tween the  Parliament  and  the  Scots  for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  expenses  which  the  Scottish  army 
had  incurred  in  their  campaign.  The  Scots 
sent  in  an  account  amounting  to  two  millions 
of  pounds.  The  English  objected  to  a  great 
many  of  the  charges,  and  offered  them  two 
hundred  thousand  pounds.  Finally  it  was  set- 
tled that  four  hundred  thousand  pounds  should 
be  paid.  This  arrangement  was  made  early  in 
September.  In  January  the  Scots  agreed  to 
give  up  the  king  into  the  hands  of  the  English 
Parliament. 

The  world  accused  the  Scots  of  selling  their 
king  to  his  enemies  for  four  hundred  thousand 
pounds.  The  Scots  denied  that  there  was  any 
connection  between  the  two  transactions  above 
referred  to.  They  received  the  money  on  ac- 
count of  their  just  claims ;  and  they  afterward 
agreed  to  deliver  up  the  king,  because  they 
thought  it  right  and  proper  so  to  do.  The 
friends  of  the  king,  however,  were  never  satis- 
fied that  there  was  not  a  secret  understanding 
between  the  parties,  that  the  money  paid  was 
not  the  price  of  the  king's  delivery ;  and  as 
this  delivery  resulted  in  his  death,  they  called 
it  the  price  of  blood. 


1646.]  The    Captivity.  241 

The  king's  amusements  in  captivity.  Holmby  House. 

Charles  was  at  Newcastle  when  they  came 
to  this  decision.  His  mind  had  been  more  at 
ease  since  his  surrender  to  the  Scots,  and  he 
was  accustomed  to  amuse  himself  and  while 
away  the  time  of  his  captivity  by  various 
games.  He  was  playing  chess  when  the  intel- 
ligence was  brought  to  him  that  he  was  to  be 
delivered  up  to  the  English  Parliament.  It 
was  communicated  to  him  in  a  letter.  He 
read  it,  and  then  went  on  with  his  game,  and 
none  of  those  around  him  could  perceive  by  his 
air  and  manner  that  the  intelligence  which  the 
letter  contained  was  any  thing  extraordinary. 
Perhaps  he  was  not  aware  of  the  magnitude  of 
the  change  in  his  condition  and  prospects  which 
the  communication  announced. 

There  was  at  this  time,  at  a  town  called  Holm- 
by or  Holdenby,  in  Northamptonshire,  a  beauti- 
ful palace  which  was  known  by  the  name  of 
Holmby  House.  King  Charles's  mother  had  pur- 
chased this  palace  for  him  when  he  was  the  Duke 
of  York,  in  the  early  part  of  his  life,  while  his  fa- 
ther, King  James,  was  on  the  throne,  and  his 
older  brother  was  the  heir  apparent.  It  was  a 
very  stately  and  beautiful  edifice.  The  house 
was  fitted  up  in  a  very  handsome  manner,  and 
all  suitable  accommodations  provided  for  the 
16 


242  King    Charles    I.  [1646. 

Contest  about  forms.  Intolerance. 

king's  reception.  He  had  many  attendants,  and 
every  desirable  convenience  and  luxury  of  liv- 
ing ;  but,  though  the  war  was  over,  there  was 
still  kept  up  between  the  king  and  his  enemies  a 
petty  contest  about  forms  and  punctilios,  which 
resulted  from  the  spirit  of  intolerance  which  char- 
acterized the  age.  The  king  wanted  his  own 
Episcopal  chaplains.  The  Parliament  would 
not  consent  to  this,  but  sent  him  two  Presby- 
terian chaplains.  The  king  would  not  allow 
them  to  say  grace  at  the  table,  but  performed 
this  duty  himself;  and  on  the  Sabbath,  when 
they  preached  in  his  chapel,  he  never  would  at- 
tend. 

One  singular  instance  of  this  sort  of  bigotry, 
and  of  the  king's  presence  of  mind  under  the 
action  of  it,  took  place  while  the  king  was  at 
Newcastle.  They  took  him  one  day  to  the 
chapel  in  the  castle  to  hear  a  Scotch  Presby- 
terian who  was  preaching  to  the  garrison. 
The  Scotchman  preached  a  long  discourse 
pointed  expressly  at  the  king.  Those  preachers 
prided  themselves  on  the  fearlessness  with 
which,  on  such  occasions,  they  discharged  what 
they  called  their  duty.  To  cap  the  climax  of 
his  faithfulness,  the  preacher  gave  out,  at  the 


L646.]  The    Captivity.  243 

The  Scotch  preacher.  The  king's  presence  of  mind. 

close  of  the  sermon,  the  hymn,  thus  :  "  We  will 
sing  the  fifty-first  Psalm  : 

"  '  Why  dost  thou,  tyrant,  boast  thyself, 
Thy  wicked  works  to  praise  V  " 

As  the  congregation  were  about  to  com- 
mence the  singing,  the  king  cast  his  eye  along 
the  page,  and  found  in  the  fifty-sixth  hymn  one 
which  he  thought  would  be  more  appropriate. 
He  rose,  and  said,  in  a  very  audible  manner. 
"  We  will  sing  the  fifty-sixth  Psalm : 

"  '  Have  mercy,  Lord,  on  me  I  pray, 
For  men  would  me  devour.'  " 

The  congregation,  moved  by  a  sudden  im- 
pulse of  religious  generosity  extremely  unusual 
in  those  days,  immediately  sang  the  psalm 
which  the  king  had  chosen. 

While  he  was  at  Holmby  the  king  used 
sometimes  to  go,  escorted  by  a  guard,  to  cer- 
tain neighboring  villages  where  there  were 
bowling-greens.  One  day,  while  he  was  going 
on  one  of  these  excursions,  a  man,  in  the  dress 
of  a  laborer,  appeared  standing  on  a  bridge  as 
he  passed,  and  handed  him  a  packet.  The 
commissioners  who  had  charge  of  Charles — for 
some  of  them  always  attended  him  on  these  ex- 


244  King    Charles    I.  [1646. 

The  king  receives  letters  from  the  queen.  The  army. 

cursions — seized  the  man.  The  packet  was 
from  the  queen.  The  king  told  the  commis- 
sioners that  the  letter  was  only  to  ask  him 
some  question  about  the  disposal  of  his  son,  the 
young  prince,  who  was  then  with  her  in  Paris. 
They  seemed  satisfied,  but  they  sent  the  dis- 
guised messenger  to  London,  and  the  Parlia- 
ment committed  him  to  prison,  and  sent  down 
word  to  dismiss  all  Charles's  own  attendants, 
and  to  keep  him  thenceforth  in  more  strict  con- 
finement. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  Parliament,  having 
finished  the  war,  were  ready  to  disband  the 
army.  But  the  army  did  not  want  to  be  dis- 
banded. They  would  not  be  disbanded.  The 
officers  knew  very  well  that  if  their  troops  were 
dismissed,  and  they  were  to  return  to  their 
homes  as  private  citizens,  all  their  importance 
would  be  gone.  There  followed  long  debates 
and  negotiations  between  the  army  and  the 
Parliament,  which  ended,  at  last,  in  an  open 
rupture.  It  is  almost  always  so  at  the  end  of 
a  revolution.  The  military  power  is  found  to 
have  become  too  strong  for  the  civil  institu- 
tions of  the  country  to  control  it. 

Oliver  Cromwell,  who  afterward  became  so 
distinguished  in  the  days  of  the  Commonwealth, 


1647.]  The    Captivity.  245 

Oliver  Cromwell.  ■     His  plan  to  seize  the  king. 

was  at  this  time  becoming  the  most  influential 
leader  of  the  army.  He  was  not  the  command- 
er-in-chief in  form,  but  he  was  the  great  plan- 
ner and  manager  in  fact.  He  was  a  man  of 
great  sternness  and  energy  of  character,  and 
was  always  ready  for  the  most  prompt  and  dar- 
ing action.  He  conceived  the  design  of  seizing 
the  king's  person  at  Holmby,  so  as  to  take  him 
away  from  the  control  of  the  Parliament,  and 
transfer  him  to  that  of  the  army.  This  plan 
was  executed  on  the  4th  of  June,  about  two 
months  after  the  king  had  been  taken  to  Holm- 
by House.  The  abduction  was  effected  in  the 
following  manner. 

Cromwell  detached  a  strong  party  of  choice 
troops,  under  the  command  of  an  officer  by  the 
name  of  Joyce,  to  carry  the  plan  into  effect. 
These  troops  were  all  horsemen,  so  that  their 
movements  could  be  made  with  the  greatest 
celerity.  They  arrived  at  Holmby  House  at 
midnight.  The  cornet,  for  that  was  the  mili- 
tary title  by  which  Joyce  was  designated,  drew 
up  his  horsemen  about  the  palace,  and  demand- 
ed entrance.  Before  his  company  arrived,  how- 
ever, there  had  been  an  alarm  that  they  were 
coming,  and  the  guards  had  been  doubled. 
The  officers  in  command  asked  the  cornet  what 


246  King    Charles    I.  [1647. 

Comet  Joyce.  He  forces  admittance  to  the  king. 

was  his  name  and  business.  He  replied  that 
he  was  Cornet  Joyce,  and  that  his  business 
was  to  speak  to  the  king.  They  asked  him  by 
whom  he  was  sent,  and  he  replied  that  he  was 
sent  by  himself,  and  that  he  must  and  would 
see  the  king.  They  then  commanded  their 
soldiers  to  stand  by  their  arms,  and  be  ready  to 
fire  when  the  word  should  be  given.  They, 
however,  perceived  that  Joyce  and  his  force 
were  a  detachment  from  the  army  to  which 
they  themselves  belonged,  and  concluding  to 
receive  them  as  brothers,  they  opened  the  gates 
and  let  them  in. 

The  cornet  stationed  sentinels  at  the  doors 
of  those  apartments  of  the  castle  which  were 
occupied  by  the  Scotch  commissioners  who  had 
the  king  in  charge,  and  then  went  himself  di- 
rectly to  the  king's  chamber.  He  had  a  pistol 
loaded  and  cocked  in  his  hand.  He  knocked 
at  the  door.  There  were  four  grooms  in  wait- 
ing: they  rebuked  him  for  making  such  a  dis- 
turbance at  that  time  of  the  night,  and  told 
him  that  he  should  wait  until  the  morning  if 
he  had  any  communication  to  make  to  the 
king. 

The  cornet  would  not  accede  to  this  proposi- 
tion, but  knocked  violently  at  the  door,  the 


1647.]  The    Captivity.  247 

Joyce's  interview  with  the  king.  His  "  instructions." 

servants  being  deterred  from  interfering  by 
dread  of  the  loaded  pistol,  and  by  the  air  and 
manner  of  their  visitor,  which  told  them  very 
plainly  that  he  was  not  to  be  trifled  with. 
The  king  finally  heard  the  disturbance,  and, 
on  learning  the  cause,  sent  out  word  that  Joyce 
must  go  away  and  wait  till  morning,  for  he 
would  not  get  up  to  see  him  at  that  hour. 
The  cornet,  as  one  of  the  historians  of  the  time 
expresses  it,  "  huffed  and  retired."  The  next 
morning  he  had  an  interview  with  the  king. 

When  he  was  introduced  to  the  king's  apart- 
ment in  the  morning,  the  king  said  that  he 
wished  to  have  the  Scotch  commissioners  pres- 
ent at  the  interview.  Joyce  replied  that  the 
commissioners  had  nothing  to  do  now  but  to  re- 
turn to  the  Parliament  at  London.  The  king 
then  said  that  he  wished  to  see  his  instructions. 
The  cornet  replied  that  he  would  show  them  to 
him,  and  he  sent  out  to  order  his  horsemen  to 
parade  in  the  inner  court  of  the  palace,  where 
the  king  could  see  them  from  his  windows  ; 
and  then,  pointing  them  out  to  the  king,  he 
said,  "  These,  sir,  are  my  instructions."  The 
king,  who,  in  all  the  trials  and  troubles  of  his 
life  of  excitement  and  danger,  took  every  thing 
quietly  and  calmly,  looked  at  the  men  atten- 


248  King    Charles    I.  [1647. 

The  king  taken  to  Cambridge.  Closely  guarded. 

tively.  They  were  fine  troops,  well  mounted 
and  armed.  He  then  turned  to  the  cornet,  and 
said,  with  a  smile,  that  "his  instructions  were 
in  fair  characters,  and  could  be  read  without 
spelling."  The  cornet  then  said  that  his  orders 
were  to  take  the  king  away  with  him.  The 
king  declined  going,  unless  the  commissioners 
went  too.  The  cornet  made  no  objection,  say- 
ing that  the  commissioners  might  do  as  they 
pleased  about  accompanying  him,  but  that  he 
himself  must  go. 

The  party  set  off  from  Holmby  and  traveled 
two  days,  stopping  at  night  at  the  houses  of 
friends  to  their  cause.  They  reached  Cam- 
bridge, where  the  leading  officers  of  the  army 
received  the  king,  rendering  him  every  possible 
mark  of  deference  and  respect.  From  Cam- 
bridge he  was  conducted  by  the  leaders  of  the 
army  from  town  to  town,  remaining  sometimes 
several  days  at  a  place.  He  was  attended  by 
a  strong  guard,  and  was  treated  every  where 
with  the  utmost  consideration  and  honor.  He 
was  allowed  some  little  liberty,  in  riding  out 
and  in  amusements,  but  every  precaution  was 
taken  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  an  escape. 

The  people  collected  every  where  into  the 
places  through  which  he  had  to  pass,  and  his 


1647.]  The    Captivity.  249 

The  king's  evil.  The  king  removed  to  Hampton  Court. 

presence-chamber  was  constantly  thronged. 
This  was  not  altogether  on  account  of  their 
respect  and  veneration  for  him  as  king,  but 
it  arose  partly  from  a  very  singular  cause. 
There  is  a  certain  disease  called  the  scrofula, 
which  in  former  times  had  the  name  of  the 
King's  Evil.  It  is  a  very  unmanageable  and 
obstinate  disorder,  resisting  all  ordinary  modes 
of  treatment ;  but  in  the  days  of  King  Charles, 
it  was  universally  believed  by  the  common  peo- 
ple of  England,  that  if  a  king  touched  a  pa- 
tient afflicted  with  this  disease,  he  would  recov- 
er. This  was  the  reason  why  it  was  called  the 
king's  evil.  It  was  the  evil  that  kings  only 
could  cure.  Now,  as  kings  seldom  traveled 
much  about  their  dominions,  whenever  one  did 
make  such  a  journey,  the  people  embraced  the 
opportunity  to  bring  all  the  cases  which  could 
possibly  be  considered  as  scrofula  to  the  line  of 
his  route,  in  order  that  he  might  touch  the  per- 
sons afflicted  and  heal  them. 

In  the  course  of  the  summer  the  king  was 
conducted  to  Hampton  Court,  a  beautiful  pal- 
ace on  the  Thames,  a  short  distance  above  Lon- 
don. Here  he  remained  for  some  time.  He 
had  an  interview  here  with  two  of  his  children. 
The  oldest  son  was  still  in  France.     The  two 


250  King   Charles   I.  [1647. 

The  king's  interview  with  his  children.  Contentious 

whom  he  saw  here  were  the  Duke  of  Glouces- 
ter and  the  Princess  Elizabeth.  He  found  that 
they  were  under  the  care  of  a  nobleman  of  high 
rank,  and  that  they  were  treated  with  great 
consideration.  Charles  was  extremely  grati- 
fied and  pleased  with  seeing  these  members  of 
his  family  again,  after  so  long  a  separation. 
His  feelings  of  domestic  affection  were  very 
strong. 

The  king  remained  at  Hampton  Court  two 
or  three  months.  During  this  time,  London, 
and  all  the  region  about  it,  was  kept  in  a  con- 
tinual state  of  excitement  by  the  contentions 
of  the  army  and  Parliament,  and  the  endless 
negotiations  which  they  attempted  with  each 
other  and  with  the  king.  During  all  this  time 
the  king  was  in  a  sort  of  elegant  and  honora- 
ble imprisonment  in  his  palace  at  Hampton 
Court ;  but  he  found  the  restraints  to  which  he 
was  subjected,  and  the  harassing  cares  which 
the  contests  between  these  two  great  powers 
brought  upon  him,  so  great,  that  he  determined 
to  make  his  escape  from  the  thraldom  which 
bound  him.  He  very  probably  thought  that  he 
could  again  raise  his  standard,  and  collect  an 
army  to  fight  in  his  cause.  Or  perhaps  he 
thought  of  making  his  escape  from  the  country 


1647.J  The    Captivity.  251 

The  king's  escape  from  Hampton  Court. 

altogether.  It  is  not  improbable  that  he  was 
not  decided  himself  which  of  these  plans  to 
pursue,  but  left  the  question  to  be  determined 
by  the  circumstances  in  which  he  should  find 
himself  when  he  had  regained  his  freedom. 

At  any  rate,  he  made  his  escape.  One  even- 
ing, about  ten  o'clock,  attendants  came  into  his 
room  at  Hampton  Court,  and  found  that  he  had 
gone.  There  were  some  letters  upon  the  table 
which  he  had  left,  directed  to  the  Parliament, 
to  the  general  of  the  army,  and  to  the  officer 
who  had  guarded  him  at  Hampton  Court. 
The  king  had  left  the  palace  an  hour  or  two  be- 
fore. He  passed  out  at  a  private  door,  which 
admitted  him  to  a  park  connected  with  the  pal- 
ace. He  went  through  the  park  by  a  walk 
which  led  down  to  the  water,  where  there  was 
a  boat  ready  for  him.  He  crossed  the  river  in 
the  boat,  and  on  the  opposite  shore  he  found 
several  officers  and  some  horses  ready  to  receive 
him.  He  mounted  one  of  the  horses,  and  the 
party  rode  rapidly  away. 

They  traveled  all  night,  and  arrived,  toward 
morning,  at  the  residence  of  a  countess  on 
whose  attachment  to  him  and  fidelity  he  placed 
great  reliance.  The  countess  concealed  him  in 
her  house,  though  it  was  understood  bv  all  con- 


252  King    Charles    I.  [1648. 


Carisbrooke  Castle.  Colonel  Hammond. 

cerned  that  this  was  only  a  temporary  place  of 
refuge.  He  could  not  long  be  concealed  here, 
and  her  residence  was  not  provided  with  any 
means  of  defense ;  so  that,  immediately  on 
their  arrival  at  the  countess's,  the  king  and  the 
few  friends  who  were  with  him  began  to  con- 
cert plans  for  a  more  secure  retreat. 

The  house  of  the  countess  was  on  the  south- 
ern coast  of  England,  near  the  Isle  of  Wight. 
There  was  a  famous  castle  in  those  days  upon 
this  island,  near  the  center  of  it,  called  Caris- 
brooke Castle.  The  ruins  of  it,  which  are  very 
extensive,  still  remain.  This  castle  was  under 
the  charge  of  Colonel  Hammond,  who  was  at 
that  time  governor  of  the  island.  Colonel 
Hammond  was  a  near  relative  of  one  of  King 
Charles's  chaplains,  and  the  king  thought  it 
probable  that  he  would  espouse  his  cause.  He 
accordingly  sent  two  of  the  gentlemen  who  had 
accompanied  him  to  the  Isle  of  Wight  to  see 
Colonel  Hammond,  and  inquire  of  him  whether 
he  would  receive  and  protect  the  king  if  he 
would  come  to  him.  But  he  charged  them  not 
to  let  Hammond  know  where  he  was,  unless 
he  would  first  solemnly  promise  to  protect  him, 
and  not  to  subject  him  to  any  restraint. 

The  messengers  went,  and,  to  the  king's  sur- 


1648.]  The    Captivity.  255 

The  king  again  a  prisoner.  His  confinement  in  Carisbrooke  Castle. 

prise,  brought  back  Hammond  with  them.  The 
king  asked  them  whether  they  had  got  his  writ- 
ten promise  to  protect  him.  They  answered 
no,  but  that  they  could  depend  upon  him  as  a 
man  of  honor.  The  king  was  alarmed.  "  Then 
you  have  betrayed  me,"  said  he,  "  and  I  am  his 
prisoner."  The  messengers  were  then,  in  their 
turn,  alarmed  at  having  thus  disappointed  and 
displeased  the  king,  and  they  offered  to  kill 
Hammond  on  the  spot,  and  to  provide  some 
other  means  of  securing  the  king's  safety.  The 
king,  however,  would  not  sanction  any  such 
proceeding,  but  put  himself  under  Hammond's 
charge,  and  was  conveyed  to  Carisbrooke  Cas- 
tle. He  was  received  with  every  mark  of  re- 
spect, but  was  very  carefully  guarded.  It  was 
about  the  middle  of  November  that  these  events 
took  place. 

Hammond  notified  the  Parliament  that 
King  Charles  was  in  his  hands,  and  sent  for 
directions  from  them  as  to  what  he  should  do. 
Parliament  required  that  he  should  be  care- 
fully guarded,  and  they  appropriated  £5000 
for  the  expenses  of  his  support.  The  king 
remained  in  this  confinement  more  than  a 
year,    while    the    Parliament    and    the    army 


256 

King    Charles    I.             [1648 

Negotiations. 

The  king's  employments. 

were  struggling  for  the  mastery  of  the  king- 
dom. 

He  spent  his  time,  during  this  long  period, 
in  various  pursuits  calculated  to  beguile  the 
weary  days,  and  he  sometimes  planned  schemes 
for  escape.  There  were  also  a  great  many 
messages  and  negotiations  going  between  the 
king  and  the  Parliament,  which  resulted  in 
nothing  but  to  make  the  breach  between  them 
wider  and  wider.  Sometimes  the  king  was 
silent  and  depressed.  At  other  times  he  seem- 
ed in  his  usual  spirits.  He  read  serious  books 
a  great  deal,  and  wrote.  There  is  a  famous 
book,  which  was  found  in  manuscript  after  his 
death  among  his  papers,  in  his  handwriting, 
which  it  is  supposed  he  wrote  at  this  time. 
He  was  allowed  to  take  walks  upon  the  castle 
wall,  which  was  very  extensive,  and  he  had 
some  other  amusements  which  served  to  occu- 
py his  leisure  time.  He  found  his  confine- 
ment, however,  in  spite  of  all  these  mitiga- 
tions, wearisome  and  hard  to  bear. 

There  were  some  schemes  attempted  to  en- 
able him  to  regain  his  liberty.  There  was  one 
very  desperate  attempt.  It  seems  that  Ham- 
mond, suspecting  that  the  king  was  plotting 
an  escape,  dismissed  the  king's  own  servants 


1648.1  The    Captivity.  257 


Unsuccessful  attempts  to  escape. 


and  put  others  in  their  places — persons  in  whom 
he  supposed  he  could  more  implicitly  rely. 
One  of  these  men,  whose  name  was  Burley, 
was  exasperated  at  being  thus  dismissed.  He 
went  through  the  town  of  Carisbrooke,  beating 
a  drum,  and  calling  upon  the  people  to  rise 
and  rescue  their  sovereign  from  his  captivity. 
The  governor  of  the  castle,  hearing  of  this,  sent 
out  a  small  body  of  men,  arrested  Burley,  and 
hanged  and  quartered  him.  The  king  was 
made  a  close  prisoner  immediately  after  this 
attempt. 

Notwithstanding  this,  another  attempt  was 
soon  made  by  the  king  himself,  which  came 
much  nearer  succeeding.  There  was  a  man 
by  the  name  of  Osborne,  whom  Hammond  em- 
ployed as  a  personal  attendant  upon  the  king. 
He  was  what  was  called  gentleman  usher. 
The  king  succeeded  in  gaining  this  person's  fa- 
vor so  much  by  his  affability  and  his  general 
demeanor,  that  one  day  he  put  a  little  paper 
into  one  of  the  king's  gloves,  which  it  was  a 
part  of  his  office  to  hold  on  certain  occasions, 
and  on  this  paper  he  had  written  that  he  was 
at  the  king's  service.  At  first  Charles  was 
afraid  that  this  offer  was  only  a  treacherous 
one  ;  but  at  length  he  confided  in  him.  In  the 
17 


258 

King   Charles    I.            [1648. 

Plan  of  escape. 

Rolf's  treacherous  design. 

mean  time,  there  was  a  certain  man  by  the 
name  of  Rolf  in  the  garrison,  who  conceived 
the  design  of  enticing  the  king  away  from  the 
castle  on  the  promise  of  promoting  his  escape, 
and  then  murdering  him.  Rolf  thought  that 
this  plan  would  please  the  Parliament,  and  that 
he  himself,  and  those  who  should  aid  him  in 
the  enterprise,  would  be  rewarded.  He  pro- 
posed this  scheme  to  Osborne,  and  asked  him 
to  join  in  the  execution  of  it. 

Osborne  made  the  whole  plan  known  to  the 
king.  The  king,  on  reflection,  said  to  Osborne, 
"Very  well;  continue  in  communication  with 
Rolf,  and  help  him  mature  his  plan.  Let  him 
thus  aid  in  getting  me  out  of  the  castle,  and 
we  will  make  such  arrangements  as  to  pre- 
vent the  assassination."  Osborne  did  so.  He 
also  gained  over  some  other  soldiers  who  were 
employed  as  sentinels  near  the  place  of  escape. 
Osborne  and  Rolf  furnished  the  king  with  a 
saw  and  a  file,  by  means  of  which  he  sawed  off 
some  iron  bars  which  guarded  one  of  his  win- 
dows. They  were  then,  on  a  certain  night,  to 
be  ready  with  a  few  attendants  on  the  outside 
to  receive  the  king  as  he  descended,  and  con- 
vey him  away. 

In  the  mean  time,  Rolf  and  Osborne  had 


1648.1  The    Captivity.  259 


The  king  made  a  closer  prisoner. 


each  obtained  a  number  of  confederates,  those 
of  the  former  supposing  that  the  plan  was  to 
assassinate  the  king,  while  those  of  the  latter 
understood  that  the  plan  was  to  assist  him  in 
escaping  from  captivity.  Some  expressions 
which  were  dropped  by  one  of  this  latter  class 
alarmed  Rolf,  and  led  him  to  suspect  some 
treachery.  He  accordingly  took  the  precau- 
tion to  provide  a  number  of  armed  men,  and  to 
have  them  ready  at  the  window,  so  that  he 
should  be  sure  to  be  strong  enough  to  secure 
the  king  immediately  on  his  descent  from  the 
window.  When  the  time  came  for  the  escape, 
the  king,  before  getting  out,  looked  below,  and, 
seeing  so  many  armed  men,  knew  at  once  that 
Rolf  had  discovered  their  designs,  and  refused 
to  descend.  He  quickly  returned  to  his  bed. 
The  next  clay  the  bars  were  found  filed  in  two, 
and  the  king  was  made  a  closer  prisoner  than 
ever. 

Some  months  after  this,  some  commissioners 
from  Parliament  went  to  see  the  king,  and  they 
found  him  in  a  most  wretched  condition.  His 
beard  was  grown,  his  dress  was  neglected,  his 
health  was  gone,  his  hair  was  gray,  and,  though 
only  forty-eight  years  of  age,  he  appeared  as 
decrepit  and  infirm  as  a  man  of  seventy.      In 


260  King   Chari.es    I.  [1648. 


The  kind's  wretched  condition. 


fact,  he  was  in  a  state  of  misery  and  despair. 
Even  the  enemies  who  came  to  visit  him, 
though  usually  stern  and  hard-hearted  enough 
to  withstand  any  impressions,  were  extremely 
affected  at  the  sisrht. 


1648.]  Trial    and    Death.  261 

The  king  removed  to  Hurst  Castle.  Its  extraordinary  situation. 


Chapter    XI. 
Trial    and    Death. 

AS  soon  as  the  army  party,  with  Oliver 
Cromwell  at  their  head,  had  obtained 
complete  ascendency,  they  took  immediate 
measures  for  proceeding  vigorously  against  the 
king.  They  seized  him  at  Carisbrooke  Castle, 
and  took  him  to  Hurst  Castle,  which  was  a 
gloomy  fortress  in  the  neighborhood  of  Caris- 
brooke. Hurst  Castle  was  in  a  very  extraor- 
dinary situation.  There  is  a  long  point  ex- 
tending from  the  main  land  toward  the  Isle  of 
"Wight,  opposite  to  the  eastern  end  of  it.  This 
point  is  very  narrow,  but  is  nearly  two  miles 
long.  The  castle  was  built  at  the  extremity. 
It  consisted  of  one  great  round  tower,  defended 
by  walls  and  bastions.  It  stood  lonely  and  des- 
olate, surrounded  by  the  sea,  except  the  long 
and  narrow  neck  which  connected  it  with  the 
distant  shore.  Of  course,  though  comfortless 
and  solitary,  it  was  a  place  of  much  greater  se- 
curity than  Carisbrooke. 

The  circumstance  of  the  king's  removal  to 


262  King   Charles  I.  [1648. 

Another  plan  of  escape.  Objections. 

this  new  place  of  confinement  were  as  fol- 
lows :  In  some  of  his  many  negotiations  with 
the  Parliament  while  at  Carisbrooke,  he  had 
bound  himself,  on  certain  conditions,  not  to  at- 
tempt to  escape  from  that  place.  His  friends, 
however,  when  they  heard  that  the  army  were 
coming  again  to  take  him  away,  concluded 
that  he  ought  to  lose  no  time  in  making  his 
escape  out  of  the  country.  They  proposed  the 
plan  to  the  king.  He  made  two  objections  to 
it.  He  thought,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  at- 
tempt would  be  very  likely  to  fail ;  and  that,  if 
it  did  fail,  it  would  exasperate  his  enemies,  and 
make  his  confinement  more  rigorous,  and  his 
probable  danger  more  imminent  than  ever. 
He  said  that,  in  the  second  place,  he  had  prom- 
ised the  Parliament  that  he  would  not  attempt 
to  escape,  and  that  he  could  not  break  his  word. 
The  three  friends  were  silent  when  they 
heard  the  king  speak  these  words.  After  a 
pause,  the  leader  of  them,  Colonel  Cook,  said, 
"  Suppose  I  were  to  tell  your  majesty  that  the 
army  have  a  plan  for  seizing  you  immediately, 
and  that  they  will  be  upon  you  very  soon  un- 
less you  escape.  Suppose  I  tell  you  that  we 
have  made  all  the  preparations  necessary — that 
we  have  horses  all  ready  here,  concealed  in  a 


1648.]  Trial   and   Death.  263 

The  king's  perplexity.  He  refuses  to  break  his  word. 

pent-house — that  we  have  a  vessel  at  the  Cows* 
waiting  for  us — that  we  are  all  prepared  to  at- 
tend you,  and  eager  to  engage  in  the  enter- 
prise— the  darkness  of  the  night  favoring  our 
plan,  and  rendering  it  almost  certain  of  success. 
Now,"  added  he,  "  these  suppositions  express 
the  real  state  of  the  case,  and  the  only  question 
is  what  your  majesty  will  resolve  to  do." 

The  king  paused.  He  was  distressed  with 
perplexity  and  doubt.  At  length  he  said, 
"  They  have  promised  me,  and  I  have  promis- 
ed them,  and  I  will  not  break  the  promise  first." 
"  Your  majesty  means  by  they  and  them,  the 
Parliament,  I  suppose  ?"  "  Yes,  I  do."  "  But 
the  scene  is  now  changed.  The  Parliament 
have  no  longer  any  power  to  protect  you.  The 
danger  is  imminent,  and  the  circumstances  ab- 
solve your  majesty  from  all  obligation." 

But  the  king  could  not  be  moved.  He  said, 
come  what  may,  he  would  not  do  any  thing 
that  looked  like  a  breaking  of  his  word.  He 
would  dismiss  the  subject  and  go  to  bed,  and 

*  There  were  two  points  or  headlands,  on  opposite  sides 
of  an  inlet  from  the  sea,  on  the  northern  side  of  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  which  in  ancient  times  received  the  name  of  Cows. 
They  were  called  the  East  Cow  and  the  West  Cow.  The 
harbor  between  them  formed  a  safe  and  excellent  harbor. 
The  name  is  now  spelled  Cowes,  and  the  port  is,  at  the  pres- 
ent day,  of  great  commercial  importance. 


264  King    Charles   I.  [1648. 

Distress  of  the  king's  friends.    He  is  removed  from  Carisbrooke  Castle. 

enjoy  his  rest  as  long  as  he  could.  His  friends 
told  him  that  they  feared  it  would  not  be  long. 
They  seemed  very  much  agitated  and  distress- 
ed. The  king  asked  them  why  they  were  so 
much  troubled.  They  said  it  was  to  think  of 
the  extreme  danger  in  which  his  majesty  was 
lying,  and  his  unwillingness  to  do  any  thing  to 
avert  it.  The  king  replied,  that  if  the  danger 
were  tenfold  more  than  it  was,  he  would  not 
break  his  word  to  avert  it. 

The  fears  of  the  king's  friends  were  soon  re- 
alized. The  next  morning,  at  break  of  day,  he 
was  awakened  by  a  loud  knocking  at  his  door. 
He  sent  one  of  his  attendants  to  inquire  what 
it  meant.  It  was  a  party  of  soldiers  come  to 
take  him  away.  They  would  give  him  no  in- 
formation in  respect  to  their  plans,  but  required 
him  to  dress  himself  immediately  and  go  with 
them.  They  mounted  horses  at  the  gate  of  the 
castle.  The  king  was  very  earnest  to  have  his 
friends  accompany  him.  They  allowed  one  of 
them,  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  to  go  with  him 
a  little  way,  and  then  told  him  he  must  return. 
The  duke  bade  his  master  a  very  sad  and  sor- 
rowful farewell,  and  left  him  to  go  on  alone. 

The  escort  which  were  conducting  him  took 
him  to  Hurst  Castle.     The  Parliament  passed 


1648.]  Trial    and   Death.  267 

Arrangements  for  the  king's  trial.     Arbitrary  measures  of  the  Commons, 

a  vote  condemning  this  proceeding,  but  it  was 
too  late.  The  army  concentrated  their  forces 
about  London,  took  possession  of  the  avenues 
to  the  houses  of  Parliament,  and  excluded  all 
those  members  who  were  opposed  to  them. 
The  remnant  of  the  Parliament  which  was 
left  immediately  took  measures  for  bringing 
the  king  to  trial. 

The  House  of  Commons  did  not  dare  to  trust 
the  trial  of  the  king  to  the  Peers,  according  to 
the  provisions  of  the  English  Constitution,  and 
so  they  passed  an  ordinance  for  attainting  him 
of  high  treason,  and  for  appointing  commission- 
ers, themselves,  to  try  him.  Of  course,  in  ap- 
pointing these  commissioners,  they  would  name 
such  men  as  they  were  sure  would  be  predis- 
posed to  condemn  him.  The  Peers  rejected 
this  ordinance,  and  adjourned  for  nearly  a  fort- 
night, hoping  thus  to  arrest  any  further  pro- 
ceedings. The  Commons  immediately  voted 
that  the  action  of  the  Peers  was  not  necessary, 
and  that  they  would  go  forward  themselves. 
They  then  appointed  the  commissioners,  and  or- 
dered the  trial  to  proceed. 

Every  thing  connected  with  the  trial  was 
conducted  with  great  state  and  parade.  Tho 
number  of  commissioners  constituting  the  court 


268  King    Charles    I.  [1648. 

The  king  brought  to  London.  Roll  of  commissioners. 

was  one  hundred  and  thirty-three,  though  only 
a  little  more  than  half  that  number  attended 
the  trial.  The  king  had  been  removed  from 
Hurst  Castle  to  Windsor  Castle,  and  he  was 
now  brought  into  the  city,  and  lodged  in  a 
house  near  to  Westminster  Hall,  so  as  to  be  at 
hand.  On  the  appointed  day  the  court  assem- 
bled ;  the  vast  hall  and  all  the  avenues  to  it 
were  thronged.  The  whole  civilized  world 
looked  on,  in  fact,  in  astonishment  at  the  al- 
most unprecedented  spectacle  of  a  king  tried 
for  his  life  by  an  assembly  of  his  subjects. 

The  first  business  after  the  opening  of  the 
court  was  to  call  the  roll  of  the  commissioners, 
that  each  one  might  answer  to  his  name.  The 
name  of  the  general  of  the  army,  Fairfax,  who 
was  one  of  the  number,  was  the  second  upon 
the  list.  When  his  name  was  called  there  was 
no  answer.  It  was  called  again.  A  voice  from 
one  of  the  galleries  replied,  "  He  has  too  much 
wit  to  be  here."  This  produced  some  disorder, 
and  the  officers  called  out  to  know  who  an- 
swered in  that  manner,  but  there  was  no  reply. 
Afterward,  when  the  impeachment  was  read, 
the  phrase  occurred,  "  Of  all  the  people  of  En- 
gland," when  the  same  voice  rejoined,  "  No, 
not  the  half  of  them."     The  officers  then  or- 


1648.]  Trial   and    Death.  269 

The  king  brought  into  court.  His  firmness. 

dered  a  soldier  to  fire  into  the  seat  from  which 
these  interruptions  came.  This  command  was 
not  obeyed,  but  they  found,  on  investigating 
the  case,  that  the  person  who  had  answered 
thus  was  Fairfax's  wife,  and  they  immediately 
removed  her  from  the  hall. 

When  the  court  was  fully  organized,  they 
commanded  the  sergeant-at-arms  to  bring  in  the 
prisoner.  The  king  was  accordingly  brought 
in,  and  conducted  to  a  chair  covered  with  crim- 
son velvet,  which  had  been  placed  for  him  at 
the  bar.  The  judges  remained  in  their  seats, 
with  their  heads  covered,  while  he  entered,  and 
the  king  took  his  seat,  keeping  his  head  cover- 
ed too.  He  took  a  calm  and  deliberate  survey 
of  the  scene,  looking  around  upon  the  judges, 
and  upon  the  armed  guards  by  which  he  was 
environed,  with  a  stern  and  unchanging  coun- 
tenance. At  length  silence  was  proclaimed, 
and  the  president  rose  to  introduce  the  proceed- 
ings. 

He  addressed  the  king.  He  said  that  the 
Commons  of  England,  deeply  sensible  of  the 
calamities  which  had  been  brought  upon  En- 
gland by  the  civil  war,  and  of  the  innocent 
blood  which  had  been  shed,  and  convinced  that 
he,  the  king,  had  been  the  guilty  cause  of  it, 


270  King   Charles   I.  [1648. 


The  king  interrupts  its  reading 


were  now  determined  to  make  inquisition  for 
this  blood,  and  to  bring  him  to  trial  and  judg- 
ment ;  that  they  had,  for  this  purpose,  organized 
this  court,  and  that  he  should  now  hear  the 
charge  brought  against  him,  which  they  would 
proceed  to  try. 

An  officer  then  arose  to  read  the  charge. 
The  king  made  a  gesture  for  him  to  be  silent. 
He,  however,  persisted  in  his  reading,  although 
the  king  once  or  twice  attempted  to  interrupt 
him.  The  president,  too,  ordered  him  to  pro- 
ceed. The  charge  recited  the  evils  and  calam- 
ities which  had  resulted  from  the  war,  and  con- 
cluded by  saying  that  "  the  said  Charles  Stu- 
art is  and  has  been  the  occasioner,  author,  and 
continuer  of  the  said  unnatural,  cruel,  and 
bloody  wars,  and  is  therein  guilty  of  all  the 
treasons,  murders,  rapines,  burnings,  spoils, 
desolations,  damages,  and  mischiefs  to  this  na- 
tion acted  and  committed  in  the  said  wars,  or 
occasioned  thereby." 

The  president  then  sharply  rebuked  the  king 
for  his  interruptions  to  the  proceedings,  and 
asked  him  what  answer  he  had  to  make  to  the 
impeachment.  The  king  replied  by  demand- 
ing by  what  authority  they  pretended  to  call 
him  to  account  for  his  conduct.     He  told  them 


1648.]  Trial   and   Death.  271 

The  king  objects  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court. 

that  he  was  their  king,  and  they  his  subjects ; 
that  they  were  not  even  the  Parliament,  and 
that  they  had  no  authority  from  any  true  Par- 
liament to  sit  as  a  court  to  try  him ;  that  he 
would  not  betray  his  own  dignity  and  rights  by 
making  any  answer  at  all  to  any  charges  they 
might  bring  against  him,  for  that  would  be  an 
acknowledgment  of  their  authority  ;  but  he  was 
convinced  that  there  was  not  one  of  them  who 
did  not  in  his  heart  believe  that  he  was  wholly 
innocent  of  the  charges  which  they  had  brought 
against  him. 

These  proceedings  occupied  the  first  day. 
The  king  was  then  sent  back  to  his  place  of 
confinement,  and  the  court  adjourned.  The 
next  day,  when  called  upon  to  plead  to  the  im- 
peachment, the  king  only  insisted  the  more 
strenuously  in  denying  the  authority  of  the 
court,  and  in  stating  his  reasons  for  so  denying 
it.  The  court  were  determined  not  to  hear 
what  he  had  to  say  on  this  point,  and  the  pres- 
ident continually  interrupted  him  ;  while  he, 
in  his  turn,  continually  interrupted  the  presi- 
dent too.  It  was  a  struggle  and  a  dispute,  not 
a  trial.  At  last,  on  the  fourth  day,  something 
like  testimony  was  produced  to  prove  that  the 
kins:  had  been  in  arms  against  the  forces  of  the 


272  King    Charles   I.  [1648. 

Sentence  of  death  pronounced  against  the  king. 

Parliament.  On  the  fifth  and  sixth  days,  the 
judges  sat  in  private  to  come  to  their  decision  ; 
and  on  the  day  following,  which  was  Saturday, 
January  27th,  they  called  the  king  again  be- 
fore them,  and  opened  the  doors  to  admit  the 
great  assembly  of  spectators,  that  the  decision 
might  be  announced. 

There  followed  another  scene  of  mutual  in- 
terruptions and  disorder.  The  king  insisted  on 
longer  delay.  He  had  not  said  what  he  wished 
to  say  in  his  defense.  The  president  told  him 
it  was  now  too  late  ;  that  he  had  consumed  the 
time  allotted  to  him  in  making  objections  to 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  court,  and  now  it  was 
too  late  for  his  defense.  The  clerk  then  read 
the  sentence,  which  ended  thus  :  "  For  all 
which  treasons  and  crimes  this  court  doth  ad- 
judge that  he,  the  said  Charles  Stuart,  is  a  ty- 
rant, traitor,  murderer,  and  public  enemy,  and 
shall  be  put  to  death  by  the  severing  of  his 
head  from  his  body."  When  the  clerk  had 
finished  the  reading,  the  president  rose,  and 
said  deliberately  and  solemnly, 

"  The  sentence  now  read  and  published  is 
the  act,  sentence,  judgment,  and  resolution  of 
the  whole  court." 

And  the  whole  court  rose  to  express  their  as- 
sent. 


1648.] 

Trial 

and 

Death.              273 

Tumult. 

The  king  grossly  insulted. 

The  king  then  said  to  the  president,  "  Will 
you  hear  me  a  word,  sir  ?" 

President.  "  Sir,  you  are  not  to  be  heard 
after  the  sentence." 

King.  "  Am  I  not,  sir  ?" 

President.  "  No,  sir.  Guards,  withdraw  the 
prisoner !" 

King.  "  I  may  speak  after  sentence  by  your 
favor,  sir.  Hold — I  say,  sir — by  your  favor, 
sir — If  I  'am  not  permitted  to  speak — "  The 
other  parts  of  his  broken  attempts  to  speak 
were  lost  in  the  tumult  and  noise.  He  was 
taken  out  of  the  hall. 

One  would  have  supposed  that  all  who  wit- 
nessed these  dreadful  proceedings,  and  who  now 
saw  one  who  had  been  so  lately  the  sovereign 
of  a  mighty  empire  standing  friendless  and 
alone  on  the  brink  of  destruction,  would  have 
relented  at  last,  and  would  have  found  their 
hearts  yielding  to  emotions  of  pity.  But  it 
seems  not  to  have  been  so.  The  animosities 
engendered  by  political  strife  are  merciless,  and 
the  crowd  through  which  the  king  had  to  pass 
as  he  went  from  the  hall  scoffed  and  derided 
him.  They  blew  the  smoke  of  their  tobacco  in 
his  face,  and  threw  their  pipes  at  him.  Some 
proceeded  to  worse  indignities  than  these,  but 
18 


274 

King 

c 

HARLES 

I. 

[1648. 

The  king': 

s  last  requests. 

They 

are  granted. 

the  king  bore  all  with  quietness  and  resigna- 
tion. 

The  king  was  sentenced  on  Saturday.  On 
the  evening  of  that  day  he  sent  a  request  that 
the  Bishop  of  London  might  be  allowed  to  as- 
sist at  his  devotions,  and  that  his  children 
might  be  permitted  to  see  him  before  he  was  to 
die.  There  were  two  of  his  children  then  in 
England,  his  youngest  son  and  a  daughter. 
The  other  two  sons  had  escaped  to  the  Conti- 
nent. The  government  granted  both  these  re- 
quests. By  asking  for  the  services  of  an  Epis- 
copal clergyman,  Charles  signified  his  firm  de- 
termination to  adhere  to  the  very  last  hour  of 
his  life  to  the  religious  principles  which  he  had 
been  struggling  for  so  long.  It  is  somewhat 
surprising  that  the  government  were  willing  to 
comply  with  the  request. 

It  was,  however,  complied  with,  and  Charles 
was  taken  from  the  palace  of  Whitehall,  which 
is  in  Westminster,  to  the  palace  of  St.  James, 
not  very  far  distant.  He  was  escorted  by  a 
guard  through  the  streets.  At  St.  James's 
there  was  a  small  chapel  where  the  king  at- 
tended divine  service.  The  Bishop  of  London 
preached  a  sermon  on  the  future  judgment,  in 
which  he  administered  comfort  to  the  mind  of 


1648.]  Trial    and   Death.  275 

Devotions  of  the  king.  He  declines  seeing  his  friends. 

the  unhappy  prisoner,  so  far  as  the  sad  case  al- 
lowed of  any  comfort,  by  the  thought  that  all 
human  judgments  would  be  reviewed,  and  all 
wrong  made  right  at  the  great  day.  After  the 
service  the  king  spent  the  remainder  of  the  day 
in  retirement  and  private  devotion. 

During  the  afternoon  of  the  day  several  of 
his  most  trusty  friends  among  the  nobility  call- 
ed to  see  him,  but  he  declined  to  grant  them 
admission.  He  said  that  his  time  was  short 
and  precious,  and  that  he  wished  to  improve  it 
to  the  utmost  in  preparation  for  the  great 
change  which  awaited  him.  He  hoped,  there- 
fore, that  his  friends  would  not  be  displeased 
if  he  declined  seeing  any  persons  besides  his 
children.  It  would  do  no  good  for  them  to  be 
admitted.  All  that  they  could  do  for  him  now 
was  to  pray  for  him. 

The  next  day  the  children  were  brought  to 
him  in  the  room  where  he  was  confined.  The 
daughter,  who  was  called  the  Lady  Elizabeth, 
was  the  oldest.  He  directed  her  to  tell  her 
brother  James,  who  was  the  second  son,  and 
now  absent  with  Charles  on  the  Continent,  that 
he  must  now,  from  the  time  of  his  father's 
death,  no  longer  look  upon  Charles  as  merely 
his  older   brother,  but   as   his  sovereign,  and 


276  King    Charles   I.  [1648. 

The  king's  interview  with  his  children. 

obey  him  as  such  ;  and  he  requested  her  to 
charge  them  both,  from  him,  to  love  each  oth- 
er, and  to  forgive  their  father's  enemies. 

"You  will  not  forget  this,  my  dear  child, 
will  you  ?"  added  the  king.  The  Lady  Eliza- 
beth was  still  very  young. 

"No,"  said  she,  "I  will  never  forget  it  as 
long  as  I  live." 

He  then  charged  her  with  a  message  to  her 
mother,  the  queen,  who  was  also  on  the  Conti- 
nent. "  Tell  her,"  said  he,  "  that  I  have  loved 
her  faithfully  all  my  life,  and  that  my  tender 
regard  for  her  will  not  cease  till  I  cease  to 
breathe." 

Poor  Elizabeth  was  sadly  grieved  at  this 
parting  interview.  The  king  tried  to  comfort 
her.  "You  must  not  be  so  afflicted  for  me," 
he  said.  "  It  will  be  a  very  glorious  death  that 
I  shall  die.  I  die  for  the  laws  and  liberties  of 
this  land,  and  for  maintaining  the  Protestant 
religion.  I  have  forgiven  all  my  enemies,  and 
I  hope  that  God  will  forgive  them." 

The  little  son  was,  by  title,  the  Duke  of 
Gloucester.  He  took  him  on  his  knees,  and 
said,  in  substance,  "  My  dear  boy,  they  are 
going  to  cut  off  your  father's  head."  The 
child  looked  up  into  his  father's  face  very  ear- 


1648.]           Trial 

AND 

Deat  h. 

277 

Parting  messages. 

The  warrant. 

nestly,  not  comprehending  so  strange  an  asser- 
tion. 

"  They  are  going  to  cut  off  my  head,"  re- 
peated the  king,  "  and  perhaps  they  will  want 
to  make  you  a  king ;  but  you  must  not  be  king 
as  long  as  your  brothers  Charles  and  James 
live  ;  for  if  you  do,  very  likely  they  will,  some 
time  or  other,  cut  off  your  head."  The  child 
said,  with  a  very  determined  air,  that  then  they 
should  never  make  him  king  as  long  as  he  lived. 
The  king  then  gave  his  children  some  other 
parting  messages  for  several  of  his  nearest  rela- 
tives and  friends,  and  they  were  taken  away. 

In  cases  of  capital  punishment,  in  England 
and  America,  there  must  be,  after  the  sentence 
is  pronounced,  written  authority  to  the  sheriff, 
or  other  proper  officer,  to  proceed  to  the  execu- 
tion of  it.  This  is  called  the  warrant,  and  is 
usually  to  be  signed  by  the  chief  magistrate  of 
the  state.  In  England  the  sovereign  always 
signs  the  warrant  of  execution  ;  but  in  the  case 
of  the  execution  of  the  sovereign  himself,  which 
was  a  case  entirely  unprecedented,  the  authori- 
ties were  at  first  a  little  at  a  loss  to  know  what 
to  do.  The  commissioners  who  had  judged  the 
king  concluded  finally  to  sign  it  themselves. 
It  was  expressed  substantially  as  follows  : 


278  King   Charles  I.  [1648. 

Warrant  signed  by  the  judges.  The  king  sleeps  well. 

"  At  the  High  Court  of  Justice  for  the  trying 
and  judging  of  Charles  Stuart,  king  of  En- 
gland, January  29th,  1648 : 

"  Whereas  Charles  Stuart,  king  of  England, 
has  been  convicted,  attainted,  and  condemned 
of  high  treason,  and  sentence  was  pronounced 
against  him  by  this  court,  to  be  put  to  death 
by  the  severance  of  his  head  from  his  body,  of 
which  sentence  execution  yet  remaineth  to  be 
done ;  these  are,  therefore,  now  to  will  and  re- 
quire you  to  see  the  said  sentence  executed  in 
the  open  street  before  Whitehall,  upon  the  mor- 
row, being  the  thirtieth  day  of  this  instant 
month  of  January,  between  the  hours  of  ten  in 
the  morning  and  five  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
said  day,  with  full  effect ;  and  for  so  doing  this 
shall  be  your  sufficient  warrant." 

Fifty-nine  of  the  judges  signed  this  warrant, 
and  then  it  was  sent  to  the  persons  appointed 
to  carry  the  sentence  into  execution. 

That  night  the  king  slept  pretty  well  for 
about  four  hours,  though  during  the  evening 
before  he  could  hear  in  his  apartment  the  noise 
of  the  workmen  building  the  platform,  or  scaf- 
fold as  it  was  commonly  called,  on  which  the 
execution  was  to  take  place.     He  awoke,  how- 


1648.]  Trial    and    Death.  279 

Preparations.  Reading  the  service. 

ever,  long  before  day.  He  called  to  an  attend- 
ant who  lay  by  his  bed-side,  and  requested  him 
to  get  up.  "  I  will  rise  myself,"  said  he,  "  for 
I  have  a  great  work  to  do  to-day."  He  then 
requested  that  they  would  furnish  him  with 
the  best  dress,  and  an  extra  supply  of  under 
clothing,  because  it  was  a  cold  morning.  He 
particularly  wished  to  be  well  guarded  from 
the  cold,  lest  it  should  cause  him  to  shiver,  and 
they  would  suppose  that  he  was  trembling  from 
fear. 

"I  have  no  fear,"  said  he.  "Death  is  not 
terrible  to  me.  I  bless  God  that  I  am  pre- 
pared." 

The  king  had  made  arrangements  for  divine 
service  in  his  room  early  in  the  morning,  to  be 
conducted  by  the  Bishop  of  London.  The  bish- 
op came  in  at  the  time  appointed,  and  read  the 
prayers.  He  also  read,  in  the  course  of  the 
service,  the  twenty-ninth  chapter  of  Matthew, 
which  narrates  the  closing  scenes  of  our  Sav- 
iour's life.  This  was,  in  fact,  the  regular  les- 
son for  the  day,  according  to  the  Episcopal  rit- 
ual, which  assigns  certain  portions  of  Scripture 
to  every  day  of  the  year.  The  king  supposed 
that  the  bishop  had  purposely  selected  this  pas- 
sage, and  he  thanked  him  for  it,  as  he  said  it 


280  King   Charles   I.  [1648. 

Summons.  The  king  carried  to  Whitehall. 

seemed  to  him  very  appropriate  to  the  occasion. 
"  May  it  please  your  majesty,"  said  the  bishop, 
"  it  is  the  proper  lesson  for  the  day."  The 
king  was  much  affected  at  learning  this  fact, 
as  he  considered  it  a  special  providence,  indi- 
cating that  he  was  prepared  to  die,  and  that  he 
should  be  sustained  in  the  final  agony. 

About  ten  o'clock,  Colonel  Hacker,  who  was 
the  first  one  named  in  the  warrant  of  execu- 
tion of  the  three  persons  to  whom  the  warrant 
was  addressed,  knocked  gently  at  the  king's 
chamber  door.  No  answer  was  returned.  Pres- 
ently he  knocked  again.  The  king  asked  his 
attendant  to  go  to  the  door.  He  went,  and 
asked  Colonel  Hacker  why  he  knocked.  He 
replied  that  he  wished  to  see  the  king 

"  Let  him  come  in,"  said  the  king. 

The  officer  entered,  but  with  great  embar- 
rassment and  trepidation.  He  felt  that  he  had 
a  most  awful  duty  to  perform.  He  informed 
the  king  that  it  was  time  to  proceed  to  White- 
hall, though  he  could  have  some  time  there  for 
rest.  "Very  well,"  said  the  king;  "go  on  ;  I 
will  follow."  The  king  then  took  the  bishop's 
arm,  and  they  went  along  together. 

They  found,  as  they  issued  from  the  palace 
of  St.  James  into  the  park  through  which  their 


1648.] 

Trial 

AND 

Death. 

281 

Devotions. 

Parting  scenes. 

way  lay  to  Whitehall,  that  lines  of  soldiers  had 
been  drawn  up.  The  king,  with  the  bishop  on 
one  side,  and  the  attendant  before  referred  to, 
whose  name  was  Herbert,  on  the  other,  both 
uncovered,  walked  between  these  lines  of 
guards.  The  king  walked  on  very  fast,  so  that 
the  others  scarcely  kept  pace  with  him.  When 
he  arrived  at  Whitehall  he  spent  some  further 
time  in  devotion  with  the  bishop,  and  then,  at 
noon,  he  ate  a  little  bread  and  drank  some  light 
wine.  Soon  after  this,  Colonel  Hacker,  the  offi- 
cer, came  to  the  door  and  let  them  know  that 
the  hour  had  arrived. 

The  bishop  and  Hacker  melted  into  tears  as 
they  bade  their  master  farewell.  The  king  di- 
rected the  door  to  be  opened,  and  requested  the 
officer  to  go  on,  saying  that  he  would  follow. 
They  went  through  a  large  hall,  called  the  ban- 
queting hall,  to  a  window  in  front,  through 
which  a  passage  had  been  made  for  the  king  to 
his  scaffold,  which  was  built  up  in  the  street 
before  the  palace.  As  the  king  passed  out 
through  the  window,  he  perceived  that  a  vast 
throng  of  spectators  had  assembled  in  the 
streets  to  witness  the  spectacle.  He  had  ex- 
pected this,  and  had  intended  to  address  them. 
But  he  found  that  this  was  impossible,  as  the 


282  King   Charles   I.  [1648. 

The  king's  speech.  His  composure.  Death. 

space  all  around  the  scaffold  was  occupied  with 
troops  of  horse  and  bodies  of  soldiers,  so  as  to 
keep  the  populace  at  so  great  a  distance  that 
they  could  not  hear  his  voice.  He,  however, 
made  his  speech,  addressing  it  particularly  to 
one  or  two  persons  who  were  near,  knowing 
that  they  would  put  the  substance  of  it  on  rec- 
ord, and  thus  make  it  known  to  all  mankind. 
There  was  then  some  further  conversation 
about  the  preparations  for  the  final  blow,  the 
adjustment  of  the  dress,  the  hair,  &c,  in  which 
the  king  took  an  active  part,  with  great  com- 
posure. He  then  kneeled  down  and  laid  his 
head  upon  the  block. 

The  executioner,  who  wore  a  mask  that  he 
might  not  be  known,  began  to  adjust  the  hair 
of  the  prisoner  by  putting  it  up  under  his  cap, 
when  the  king,  supposing  that  he  was  going  to 
strike,  hastily  told  him  to  wait  for  the  sign 
The  executioner  said  that  he  would.  The  king 
spent  a  few  minutes  in  prayer,  and  then 
stretched  out  his  hands,  which  was  the  sign 
which  he  had  arranged  to  give.  The  axe  de- 
scended. The  dissevered  head,  with  the  blood 
streaming  from  it,  was  held  up  by  the  assistant 
executioner,  for  the  gratification  of  the  vast 
crowd  which  was  gazing  on  the  scene.     He 


1648.]  Trial   and   Death.  283 

The  body  taken  to  Windsor  Castle.  The  Commonwealth. 

said,  as  he  raised  it,   "  Behold  the  head  of  a 
traitor  !" 

The  body  was  placed  in  a  coffin  covered  with 
black  velvet,  and  taken  back  through  the 
window  into  the  room  from  which  the  mon- 
arch had  walked  out,  in  life  and  health,  but  a 
few  moments  before.  A  day  or  two  afterward 
it  was  taken  to  Windsor  Castle  upon  a  hearse 
drawn  by  six  horses,  and  covered  with  black 
velvet.  It  was  there  interred  in  a  vault  in  the 
chapel,  with  an  inscription  upon  lead  over  the 
coffin : 

KING    CHARLES. 

1648. 

After  the  death  of  Charles,  a  sort  of  republic 
was  established  in  England,  called  the  Com- 
monwealth, over  which,  instead  of  a  king,  Oli- 
ver Cromwell  presided,  under  the  title  of  Pro- 
tector. The  country  was,  however,  in  a  very 
anomalous  and  unsettled  state.  It  became 
more  distracted  still  after  the  death  of  the  Pro- 
tector, and  it  was  only  twelve  years  after  be- 
heading the  father  that  the  people  of  England, 
by  common  consent,  called  back  the  son  to  the 
throne.  It  seems  as  if  there  could  be  no  stable 
government  in  a  country  where  any  very  large 


284  King    Charles    I.  [1648. 

Government  in  the  United  States.  Ownership. 

portion  of  the  inhabitants  are  destitute  of  prop- 
erty, without  the  aid  of  that  mysterious  but  all- 
controlling  principle  of  the  human  breast,  a 
spirit  of  reverence  for  the  rights,  and  dread  of 
the  power  of  an  hereditary  crown.  In  the  Unit- 
ed States  almost  every  man  is  the  possessor  of 
property.  He  has  his  house,  his  little  farm, 
his  shop  and  implements  of  labor,  or  something 
which  is  his  own,  and  which  he  feels  would  be 
jeopardized  by  revolution  and  anarchy.  He 
dreads  a  general  scramble,  knowing  that  he 
would  probably  get  less  than  he  would  lose  by 
it.  He  is  willing,  therefore,  to  be  governed  by 
abstract  law.  There  is  no  need  of  holding  up 
before  him  a  scepter  or  a  crown  to  induce  obe- 
dience. He  submits  without  them.  He  votes 
with  the  rest,  and  then  abides  by  the  decision 
of  the  ballot-box.  In  other  countries,  however, 
the  case  is  different.  If  not  an  actual  majori- 
ty, there  is  at  least  a  very  large  proportion  of 
the  community  who  possess  nothing.  They  get 
scanty  daily  food  for  hard  and  long-continued 
daily  labor  ;  and  as  change,  no  matter  what,  is 
always  a  blessing  to  sufferers,  or  at  least  is  al- 
ways looked  forward  to  as  such,  they  are  ready 
to  welcome,  at  all  times,  any  thing  that  prom- 
ises   commotion.     A  war,   a   conflagration,  a 


1648.J  Trial   and   Death.  285 

No  stable  governments  result  from  violent  revolutions. 

riot,  or  a  rebellion,  is  always  welcome.  They 
do  not  know  but  that  they  shall  gain  some  ad- 
vantage by  it,  and  in  the  mean  time  the  excite- 
ment of  it  is  some  relief  to  the  dead  and  eter- 
nal monotony  of  toil  and  suffering. 

It  is  true  that  the  revolutions  by  which  mon- 
archies are  overturned  are  not  generally  effect- 
ed, in  the  first  instance,  by  this  portion  of  the 
community.  The  throne  is  usually  overturn- 
ed at  first  by  a  higher  class  of  men ;  but  the 
deed  being  done,  the  inroad  upon  the  establish- 
ed course  and  order  of  the  social  state  being 
once  made,  this  lower  mass  is  aroused  and  ex- 
cited by  it,  and  soon  becomes  unmanageable. 
When  property  is  so  distributed  among  the  pop- 
ulation of  a  state  that  all  have  an  interest  in 
the  preservation  of  order,  then,  and  not  till  then, 
will  it  be  safe  to  give  to  all  a  share  in  the  pow- 
er necessary  for  preserving  it ;  and,  in  the  mean 
time,  revolutions  produced  by  insurrections  and 
violence  will  probably  only  result  in  establish- 
ing governments  unsteady  and  transient  just  in 
proportion  to  the  suddenness  of  their  origin. 


The    End. 


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